


Dear Evan Hansen and Be More Chill Oneshots

by sochill



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz, Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: F/F, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, M/M, Pining, Requests, oneshots
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:02:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 20,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25984822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sochill/pseuds/sochill
Summary: A collection of oneshots based on requests from my insta @be_more_sochillRequests are currently closed while I work on the ones I have!
Relationships: Alana Beck/Zoe Murphy, Christine Canigula/Brooke Lohst, Evan Hansen/Jared Kleinman, Jake Dillinger/Michael Mell, Jeremy Heere/Michael Mell, Rich Goranski/Michael Mell
Comments: 12
Kudos: 131





	1. Guidelines!

**Author's Note:**

> You can request by sending me a DM on insta when requests are open (they are currently closed)

Hey everyone! This is a collection of one shots featuring characters from DEH and BMC. Chapter titles are the main pairing so you don't have to click through every single one to find something you like! I'll also use the notes on each chapter to list the specific tropes, tags, and/or triggers that are present in that fic.

Please read this before requesting!

I will not write:

\- treebros (Evan x Connor)

-any ships featuring the squip

-incest (Connor x Zoe)

-pedophilia (any ship featuring an adult and minor)

-smut

All of these (except incest and pedophilia) are just personal preference things for me. Nothing against people who enjoy them but I don't. (These are the main ones but depending on the details of a request I may add more)

You can request any ships that aren't listed above. Also I will write any pairing platonically!

In your request please include:

\- the ship (if any) using the character names since I don't know all of the ship names lol

-(if you want a ship) please specify if you want it to be "getting together" or "established relationship"

-a list of characters you want included (I'll most likely give other characters from the show(s) small parts as well so just include anyone you specifically want to see/have a big role)

-a short summary (these are all oneshots so nothing too long or complicated)

-anything else you want to see/specify!

Also, if you suggest an idea that I really like I might ask u if you'd prefer a full length fic because my brain do be running away with ideas sometimes.

Thank you in advance for reading/requesting!


	2. Michael/Rich

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rich and Michael are oblivious idiots who have been flirting for weeks and their friends are so tired because neither of them want to admit they have feelings for each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags: accidental confessions, getting together, first kiss, pining idiots, oblivious idiots, side Jeremy/Christine

“Xbox is way better! It’s not even a debate Michael.”

“Xbox is _trash!_ ”

“It’s not!”

“Rich it’s literally garbage!”

“You’re biased cause you like old shit. You love Playstation cause it’s slow and has shitty graphics like Pac-Man.”

“Do _not_ disrespect Pac-Man!”

“Hey.” Christine joined them at the table. She leaned over and kissed Jeremy’s cheek quickly as the argument raged on in front of them. “They fight like an old married couple.” She whispered.

“God I know.” Jeremy rolled his eyes. “I wish they’d just get together already.” He smiled at her. “Also hi.”

“Have you talked to Michael about it?” Christine asked.

“Yes. He denies his very obvious and not subtle crush.” Jeremy sighed. “I was like ‘I’ve known you since kindergarten, I know when you like someone Michael’ but he-”

“I heard my name.” Michael turned toward them. He narrowed his eyes. “What are you whispering about over there?”

“Oh I’d love to tell you.” Jeremy smiled.

Michael kicked Jeremy hard under the table. Jeremy snickered.

“Hey guys!” Brooke sat down beside Chloe and surveyed the table. “You guys are sitting really close together.” She pointed out.

Michael and Rich looked at each other and then quickly slid to opposite ends of the bench they were on. Jeremy and Christine shared a look.

“Very casual.” Chloe said sarcastically.

“Hey Michael.” Christine said. “You were complaining that Rich and Brooke were hanging out without you after school.”

“I wasn’t _complaining_.” Michael’s ears turned red. “I just mentioned that they were.”

Rich smirked.

“Anyway,” Christine continued. “Why don’t you come to me and Jeremy’s sleepover tonight?”

Michael wrinkled his nose. “And third wheel? No thanks.”

“Okay like _I’m_ not the third wheel when we hang out.” Jeremy scoffed.

Michael smiled. “Point. Fine I’ll come.”

“Hey guys.” Jake joined them at the table. He nodded at the large gap between Michael and Rich. “What’s up with that?”

“They were just being-”

“Nothing!” Michael cut Brooke off. “We were being nothing.”

“Hi everyone.” Jenna dropped down next to Brooke a second later. She frowned. “Why are you guys sitting so far-”

“Just leave us alone!” Rich said, blushing bright red.

Jenna raised her eyebrows. “Alright then. Being weird. Got it.”

“So.” Brooke said too casually as she got into Rich’s car.

“So what?” Rich eyed her.

“How are things….”

“Things are… fine.”

“Mhm.” Brooke examined her nails. “And how are things with Michael?”

Rich’s face flushed red. “I don’t know what you could possibly mean by that.”

“Oh come on.” Brooke snorted. “Oh Michael fight with me about video games. Oh Michael I could kick your ass at Mario Kart. Oh Michael let’s hold hands as bros.” She said in her best Rich impression.

“I _never_ said that last one.” Rich rolled his eyes.

“Basically.” Brooke looked at him. “Come on just admit it. You got a crush on a nerd. It’s like a bad romcom come to life.”

Rich let out an annoyed sigh. “I miss when Jeremy and Christine were still too nervous to ask each other out and that’s all you guys talked about.”

“Yeah but Jeremy finally asked her.” Brooke gasped. “You’re more chicken than Jeremy!”

“I am not!” Rich rolled his eyes. “If I _wanted_ to ask Michael out I would. But I don’t.”

“Mhm.” Brooke nodded. “Sure you would.”

“I would.”

“He’s into you too you know?”

“That’s not even-”

“He totally is. So ask him out before Jeremy murders him for being so disgustingly into you.”

“Hello party people.” Michael waved as he flopped down on Christine’s couch. “What the plan?”

“No plan.” Christine came in from the kitchen holding a bowl of popcorn. “We were just gonna watch some movies and you know… _talk_.”

Michael scrunched his nose up. “Not sure I like your tone there missy.”

“Michael this is an intervention.” Jeremy said from the other couch. “We’ve had enough of your shit.”

“Hey!”

“You and Rich have been flirting for weeks now. One of you needs to do something about it. I _thought_ Rich would’ve by now but…”

“We’re not flirting!”

“Michael,” Christine patted his arm. “You definitely are.”

“And it’s so stressful to watch.” Jeremy added.

“This is unbelievable.” Michael huffed. “I put up with you pining over Christine for _months_.”

“So you admit it!” Jeremy pointed at him. “You do like him.”

“Wait that’s not- no! I didn’t-!”

“You did!” Jeremy clapped. “You liiiiiiiike him.”

“It doesn’t matter anyway!” Michael said. “He wouldn’t like me.”

“Michael he _does-_ ” Christine started.

“Wait wait wait.” Jeremy stopped her. “What do you mean he _wouldn’t_ like you? What the fuck is that about?”

Michael smiled. “Come on. You know I’m right. He’s like a cool popular guy. And I’m not.”

“Yeah he’s also a giant god damn nerd.” Jeremy pointed out.

“He likes spending time with you Michael. He doesn’t care about that stuff.”

Michael shrugged. “I don’t know.”

The next day they found themselves at Jake’s house. They were all spread across the various couches and chairs in his living room. There was a playlist of early 2000s hits playing. Chloe and Brooke were Instagram stalking some guy in Chloe’s math class and Jake was teaching Jeremy how to play flip cup.

“Alright y’all.” Rich stood up suddenly. “I gotta get home. I have an essay due at midnight and I’ve only written the intro.”

“The one for history?” Brooke raised her eyebrows. “That’s like six pages Rich!”

“I know.” He rolled his eyes. “That’s why I have to go.”

He stood up and smacked Jake’s outstretched hand as he walked to the door.

“Later man.” Jake called.

Rich waved and stepped out.

As soon as the door closed, Jeremy was twisting around in his chair.

“What?” Michael looked at him.

“Dude!”

“He was like in your lap.” Brooke snorted.

“He wasn’t.” Michael groaned. “There’s just not a lot of room in this recliner.”

“Yeah but there was a whole empty couch next to you!” Jeremy motioned to the couch in question.

“That’s not- I don’t-”

“Michael if you say you don’t like him one more time I’m gonna lose it.” Jeremy warned.

“Okay whatever!” He threw his hands up. “I have a crush on Rich! Happy?”

Michael didn’t hear the door open because of the yelling. But he sure heard it close. He whipped around to see Rich standing red faced in the entryway.

“Uh.” He pointed to the table. “I left my keys.”

Jake tossed them over and surprisingly Rich caught them.

“Thanks uh, Michael we’ll talk later yeah? Yeah. We should talk. Okay. I have to write an essay. Bye.” He walked out again.

Michael turned back around looking horrified. “Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my GOD!”

“Michael it’s okay.” Jeremy said quickly. “He’s obviously not upset.”

“He obviously is!” Michael closed his mouth abruptly as the door opened yet again.

Rich walked quickly across the room, grabbed Michael by the shirt collar and kissed him.

“We’ll talk later?”

Michael nodded quickly, still clearly in shock. “Yeah okay.”

“Cool.” And Rich left for the third and final time.

Michael turned toward his friends with a dazed smile. “Guys I think Rich might like me too.”

“I am going to kill him.” Jeremy said quietly.


	3. Michael/Jake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael and Jake end up being roommates in college and Michael realizes that not only is Jake exceptionally attractive... he's also more human than the "jock heartthrob" persona he put on.  
> Requested by @gigi31773 on instagram

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags: roommates, pining, school and home life stress, Jake feels overwhelmed, Michael is oh so gay, college au, first kiss, getting together

“Hey.” Jeremy waved as he jogged up to Michael’s front door.

Michael was leaning in the doorway waiting for him. “Sup?”

“Get your roommate assignment yet?”

“I don’t know.” Michael shrugged as they made their way up to his room. “Haven’t checked.”

“Dude.” Jeremy shoved him. “We move into the dorms in two weeks. Don’t you want to have time to internet stalk the person you’ll be living with?”

“No.” Michael grumbled. “I’m gonna spend all my time in your room.”

Jeremy rolled his eyes. “Come _oooon_. Just check.”

Michael groaned and flopped onto his bed. He pulled out his phone. “I’ll never forgive you for applying to live with Rich.”

“You _said_ you weren’t going to the same school as us!” Jeremy kicked his foot.

“Well you should’ve waited until the last possible day to apply like me!”

“Just check.”

Michael logged into his school portal and clicked a few tabs. He frowned. “Yo, what’s Jake’s last name?”

“Dillinger?”

Michael sat up and flipped his phone around. “Unless there’s another Jake Dillinger out there.”

“Hey!” Jeremy smiled. “That’s so cool! The four of us can hang out.”

“I guess.” Michael shrugged. “I never really talked to him.”

“Well I mean, it’s not like we were besties or anything but I’ve talked to him a couple times. He’s really cool. He’s way nicer than you’d expect.”

Move in day was the most stressful thing Michael had ever experienced. Jeremy’s dorm was on a different floor so they hardly saw each other except briefly in the elevator or if they both happened to be getting things from their cars at the same time. Jake was there too but he was constantly moving and with both of his parents _and_ Michael’s moms crowding the room, they didn’t really get much time to talk. Jake had grinned and fist bumped Michael when they first arrived but that was pretty much all the interaction they’d had.

Things quieted down once the parents left. Jake’s left as soon as he was done unpacking the car. Michael’s were a little harder to get rid of. Finally, it was just the two of them. Michael felt extremely uncomfortable for three very specific reasons. One was being in a strange room, far away from home. The second, was because school started soon and he hadn’t even seen the campus in person yet. And the third was because Jake Dillinger was tall and handsome and muscular and Michael had been single for so long. It wasn’t that he didn’t realize Jake was attractive before. He’d just never seen him so up close. Or for so long. His throat felt dry. Luckily, it was Jake that broke the silence.

“Your moms are really nice.”

“Oh, yeah. They’re great.” Michael smiled. “Your parents are… uh…”

“I know.” Jake laughed a little.

“So uh, can I expect to get no sleep because of your raging parties?” Michael asked, trying to joke like high school friends should be able to.

“Nah.” Jake waved his hand. “I’m uh… I’m here to learn.” Jake said in a way that made it clear he was quoting someone. Michael assumed it was his parents. “I can’t do stupid shit and fuck around.” He dropped his eyes.

Michael frowned. He’d never seen Jake look so serious. “But college is like… _built_ for fucking around.”

Jake laughed. “Yeah. Well you’ll just have to have fun for me.”

“Parties aren’t really my thing.” Michael shook his head. “I’ll probably spend most of my time with Jeremy and Rich honestly.”

“Well then,” Jake stood up and cracked his back. Michael did not look at the spot where his shirt rode up. “I guess we’ll be seeing a lot of each other. Cause that’s my plan too.”

“Well… we also live together.” Michael pointed out.

Jake laughed. “Right. That too.”

It didn’t take long for Michael to realize that Jeremy was absolutely right about Jake. He was definitely a jock. More of a bro than Michael’s usual taste in friends (and in men for that matter.) But he was also incredibly nice. He was never private about the fact that his parents had money. But he wasn’t stingy with it either. He bought Michael’s lunch when they went out together. He bought Rich a new desk chair when he broke his riding it down the hallway. He bought Jeremy’s movie ticket when he left his wallet in the car. (Although, to be fair, with the way Jeremy was stammering out apologies, Michael was pretty sure anyone would’ve offered.)

He was also always asking Michael if he was cool with things. Whether it was turning off the lights to go to bed, or having a friend over (even when the friend was Rich), or borrowing something. Michael thought living with a non-Jeremy person would be stressful and annoying. But he actually really liked living with Jake. He was funny and he taught Michael weird jock stuff and let Michael teach him weird nerd stuff.

The only problem was that Michael was starting to get the tiniest, itty bitties, miniscule little crush on him. Which was a disaster waiting to happen.

“Knock knock!” A voice yelled through the door.

Jake snorted and went to open it. “Hey Jeremy.”

“You know,” Michael said from his bed. “You could actually knock. You know like… with your hands?”

“That’s boring.” Jeremy poked Michael until he moved his legs so Jeremy could sit. “What are you guys up to?”

“Twitter.” Michael answered, sending the current thread he was reading to Jeremy as he said it.

“I’m heading out.” Jake said, pulling on a jacket. “Me and Rich have tickets to this concert thing.”

“Cool. Have fun.”

“Thanks. See you later Mike.” He waved and stepped into the hall.

“Mike?” Jeremy raised his eyebrows.

“Yeah,” Michael flushed slightly. “He started calling me that. I don’t know why.”

“Cute.” Jeremy said, moving to sit in Michael’s desk chair.

Michael sat up and eyed him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing.” Jeremy shrugged innocently, spinning around.

“What are you saying!”

“Noooothing.” Jeremy smiled. “It’s just cute that you kinda like him.”

Michael’s face burned. “I do not!”

“Oh come on!” Jeremy laughed. “I’ve known you forever Michael. I know when you have a crush! You’re not subtle.”

“I don’t have a crush on Jake!” Michael climbed out of bed to hit him.

“Liar!” Jeremy cackled, dancing away from him. “You loooooove him!”

“Shut up!” Michael grabbed him around the waist and threw him to the ground.

“You think he’s cute.” Jeremy grinned, unbothered by the fact that he was laying on his back on the floor.

“Who doesn’t?” Michael shrugged. “That doesn’t mean anything.”

“He has a nickname for you.”

“That’s not my-”

“You want to kiss him.”

“I will kill you.” Michael threatened.

Jake came home earlier than expected. Jeremy loudly announced he had homework to do and left, winking at Michael who had to physically restrain himself from chasing Jeremy down the hall and punching him in the face

“Hey so uh… concert end early or…?”

“Nah.” Jake pulled off his shoes and sat on his bed. “My mom called and chewed me out for not being at home studying.” He shrugged. “Kinda killed the mood.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.” Michael wasn’t sure if he should ask Jake to explain more or not. “Um… if you want to… I don’t know… vent or whatever. I’m here.”

Jake looked at him for a second. “It’s just,” He sighed heavily. “I mean in high school I was this model student you know? Good grades, extra curriculars, sports. And it was so _easy_. And here it’s different. I mean I don’t have time for all that extra stuff, and school, _and_ a job. But my parents expect me to be able to handle it because I always have. And the only reason I did all that stuff in high school is so they’d fucking pay attention to me. And now I wish they wouldn’t. It’s just so much stress and I never get any free time,” Jake’s voice cracked and Michael realized with horror that he was about to cry. “And on top of everything I’m fucking failing chemistry.”

“Whoa hey.” Michael stood up and faltered for a second before sitting beside Jake on his bed. He wasn’t sure how to comfort people who had always been an image of perfection in his brain. “Look man it’s really um- it’s not- I can help you.”

“Huh?” Jake frowned at him.

“With chem.” Michael clarified. “I took AP in high school and I’m taking an upper division course here and… I mean I’m pretty good at it.”

“Oh.” Jake smiled a little. “Thanks Mike.”

Michael swallowed. “Yeah uh, no problem.”

“Only if it’s not an inconvenience though.”

“No of course not.” Michael shook his head quickly. “I’d love to help you uh…” He trailed off.

Jake leaned toward him the slightest bit. Michael heard blood roaring in his ears.

“You’re really great Michael.”

“Thanks.” Michael flushed. “Uh, you too. You are too… I mean.”

Jake smiled. “Your face is red.”

Michael nodded. “Yeah it does that.”

Jake laughed softly. “Hey, would it be weird if I-”

“No.” Michael cut him off. “It wouldn’t be weird.”

“You don’t even know what I was gonna say.”

“I’ll take that chance.” Michael said quietly.

Jake smiled again before leaning in and kissing him.

“That was… cool.” Michael said when Jake leaned back.

Jake snorted. “Yeah. Very cool.”

“Well I’ve got homework so…” Michael stood up. He stopped and then spun around. “Would you maybe want to go get dinner tomorrow or something?”

“Yeah. That would be awesome.” Jake stood up and ruffled Michael’s hair. “I’m gonna shower.”

Michael flopped backward onto his bed and grinned at the ceiling.


	4. Jeremy/Michael

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremy overhears Michael singing a love song with some interesting implications.  
> Requested by @the_echo_of_the_geko on instagram

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags: fluff, pining, first kiss, getting together, singer!michael, guitar-player!michael, best friends to lovers, soft boys

The first thing Jeremy heard when he let himself into Michael’s house was the sound of a guitar. Michael used to play the guitar a lot when he first got it. Then it dwindled and now he only played it on rare occasions. He’d always been embarrassed to play in front of people. He confided in Jeremy a while ago that he’d been messing around and trying to write songs but he refused to play any of them for him. He would play the random assortment of pop songs he was learning though. But it had been a few months since Jeremy had heard him play.

He crept up the stairs silently and paused outside of Michael’s bedroom to listen. He was singing some sappy love song that Jeremy didn’t recognize. Which was weird because they had almost identical taste in music. He frowned and listened closer.

It could’ve been a random song Jeremy had never heard. Maybe something new Michael had discovered. Maybe something old Jeremy had forgotten about.

But the odds of either of those dropped exponentially when Michael rhymed “see” with “Jeremy.”

Not that there weren’t any other Jeremy’s in the world. Sure, it could be a coincidence. But Jeremy knew it was definitely not. This was something Michael wrote. This was a _love song_ Michael wrote. A love song Michael wrote about _Jeremy_.

Jeremy swallowed. It occurred to him that he’d been standing in the hallway for several minutes now. He backed up a few steps and then stomped down the hall. He heard Michael’s playing stop abruptly.

“Hey.” He stuck his head in the doorway. “Sorry I’m early. I finished my homework faster than I thought.”

“Oh yeah that’s cool.” Michael tapped his fingers. “How long have you been here?”

Jeremy frowned. “Just got here? Why?”

“No reason.”

“What are you playing?” Jeremy nodded to the guitar.

“Huh?” Michael looked down like he forgot he was holding it. His cheeks darkened. “Nothing. Just messing around. It was nothing.”

“Come on.” Jeremy sat in his desk chair. “Let me hear it.”

“There’s nothing to hear.” Michael stood up and set the guitar in the corner of his room.

“You’re no fun.” Jeremy sighed.

“Sorry to disappoint.” Michael rolled his eyes. “How was your first day?”

Jeremy groaned and spun around. “It sucked.” He’d started a new job yesterday and he was already ready to quit.

“No one cool?”

“I guess.” Jeremy shrugged. “The guy that trained me was really nice. And there was a girl who was also training today and she’s super funny.”

“Any…” Michael wiggled his eyebrows. “Prospective partners?”

Jeremy chewed on his bottom lip and shook his head. “Not really.”

“No one?”

“Well…” There was a rock in Jeremy’s shoe and it was stabbing him. He should go outside and get it out. “There’s someone. But not from work.”

“Oh.” Something flickered across Michael’s face but he brightened quickly. “Who is it?”

“Uh,” Jeremy hesitated. There was still a chance the song had been a coincidence. He dug his heel into the rock. “What about you?”

“What about me?” Michael raised an eyebrow.

“You haven’t dated anyone in like… ever. Who do you like?”

“Who says I like anyone?” Michael asked, avoiding Jeremy’s eye.

“Your shifty attitude is telling me you do.”

“Tell me yours and I’ll tell you mine.” Michael said crossing his arms.

“You tell me first.”

“I asked you first.”

“Well I heard-” Jeremy stopped himself. What if he was wrong? He moved his foot and the rock stabbed him again.

“You heard what?” Michael snorted, clearly assuming he meant gossip.

“I heard uh… I heard your song.”

Michael went very still. “What?” He asked quietly.

“The song you were singing. When I got here.”

“That was… uh…” Michael stared at him. “Um…”

“That was what?” Jeremy asked, rolling the chair over beside Michael’s bed.

“It was… a song. That someone wrote. Not me though. I didn’t- I don’t- it wasn’t _me_ singing about…”

“Who wrote it then?”

“Um.”

“Michael.” Jeremy kicked his foot lightly. The rock moved. “I have a crush on you.”

“Oh.” Michael straightened up. Then he narrowed his eyes. “This isn’t a ploy to get me to tell you about the song is it?”

“What? No. You think I would do that?”

“I dunno.” Michael shrugged. Then he smiled slightly. “I like you too.”

“Cool.” Jeremy ginned at the floor.

“Cool.” Michael waited for a few seconds before clearing his throat. “Um, are you gonna kiss me or not?”

“What?” Jeremy looked up, his face bright red. “I mean, yeah. If you want. I mean I want to obviously but if you- oh.” He stopped talking as Michael put his hands on the armrests of Jeremy’s chair and leaned into his space.

“Are you gonna keep talking or can I kiss you?”

“You probably should or else I will keep talking.” Jeremy said.

Michael laughed and rolled his eyes and then he kissed Jeremy and Jeremy forgot about the song and the job and the rock in his shoe. Everything faded away except Michael.


	5. Zoe/Alana

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zoe and Alana both work as princesses at Disneyland. Zoe has more than a little crush on her coworker.  
> Requested by @x._.veronica._.x on instagram

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags: friends to lovers, coworkers to lovers, getting together, flirting, pining, disney employees, Zoe is awkward around children even though she works at Disneyland

“Hi Zoe!” Alana grinned as she brushed past her into the break room.

“Hey.”

“Just getting in?”

“Yeah.” Zoe nodded, she was pinning her hair into an impossible pile on top of her head. “You off?”

“Nope. Just on lunch.” Alana rolled out her shoulders and dropped into a chair. “I’m so glad you’re in though. You’re like my only friend here.”

Zoe flushed slightly and focused on her hair. “What about Lily?”

“Eh.” Alana shrugged. “She’s nice but she’s more of an acquaintance than a friend.”

“Mmm.” Zoe nodded, finally satisfied with her hair. “Hey, can you zip me up?” She asked, pulling on her dress.

“Sure!” Alana hopped up and zipped up the back of Zoe’s dress. “You’re such a good fit for Belle.” She smiled at Zoe in the mirror, tilting her head. “You’re the right kind of pretty.”

“Is that supposed to be an insult?” Zoe laughed nervously.

Alana frowned. “What? No. Did it sound that way? I’m sorry!”

“No it’s fine.” Zoe assured her. She always forgot that Alana didn’t pick up sarcasm too well. “I was just teasing. Thank you.”

“Oh.” Alana smiled. “Well, you’re welcome.”

Zoe had been out doing photos for half an hour when Alana came back out in her big green Tiana dress. Children screamed in excitement and beelined for her. Zoe internally sighed in relief as her own line got shorter. It was an exceptionally hot day and she was trying not to think about how much longer she had until her break. Alana caught her eye in between photos and smiled. Zoe grinned back and felt just a little less exhausted.

It felt like forever before Zoe was finally off of work. She changed into her shorts and t-shirt and pulled her hair into a rough ponytail.

She came out of the staff door to see Alana sitting on a bench. She jumped to her feet when she saw Zoe.

“You’re off?”

Zoe nodded. “Just now. Were you waiting?”

“Oh, uh… no.” Alana smiled guiltily. “No I was just… I was gonna get something to eat.” She said. “And I was wondering if you-”

Alana was interrupted by a child crying loudly. Both girls turned toward the sound. There was a little girl, no more than five, standing beside a snack cart and wailing. Zoe made her way over and crouched down next to the girl.

“Hey.” She said soothingly. “What’s wrong? Are you lost?”

The little girl stopped screaming to look at her with big, round eyes. She nodded.

“Are you here with your mom or dad?”

“My mom.” The girl mumbled. There were still tears running down her cheeks.

“Okay.” Zoe glanced around. More often than not, the frantic mother was only a few steps away. She didn’t see anyone in her initial scan of the crowds. Alana had made her way over and was looking around too. Zoe turned back to the girl and held out her hand. “Why don’t we look for her?”

The little girl took a small step back. “I’m not supposed to go with strangers.”

Zoe nodded. “That’s smart.” She stood up and put her hands on her hips. “Well how about we sit on this bench right here?” She pointed. “And maybe you can tell me what your mom looks like and my friend Alana can go look for her?”

The little girl considered this. “Okay.” She said finally, sniffling. “And we just stay on the bench?”

“Yep.” Zoe sat down and patted the spot next to her. “We’ll just wait here so they know where we are.”

The little girl nodded and sat beside her.

Alana stood by Zoe. “What’s your name?”

“Naomi.”

“That’s such a pretty name!” Alana smiled. “It sounds like a princess’s name.”

“Really?” Naomi stared at her with wide eyes.

Alana nodded. “So, princess Naomi, what does your mom look like?”

“Mmmm.” Naomi frowned. “She’s tall and she has brown hair.”

“Is it long or short hair?” Zoe asked.

“Uuuh, long.” Naomi said.

“Do you know what color her shirt was?”

She nodded. “It was red with a Mickey Mouse on it.”

“Okay.” Alana nodded. “Anything else you remember? Did she have a bag or maybe a hat?”

Naomi frowned. “No hat. Ummmm… I think she had a blue backpack.”

“Okay! I’m gonna go look around and see if I can find her and then I’ll bring her back here. And you stay right here with Zoe. Okay?”

“Okay.” Naomi nodded.

Zoe held up her phone. “Keep me posted.”

Alana shot her a thumbs up and started to weave her way through the crowds.

“Is that your girlfriend?” Naomi asked suddenly.

“What?” Zoe flushed. “No. We’re just friends. We work together.”

“Oh.” Naomi said. She was swinging her feet. “She’s really pretty.”

“Yeah.” Zoe glanced at her phone. No new texts. “She is.”

“Do you want her to be your girlfriend?”

“Um…” Zoe did not want to have this conversation with a random child. Luckily, she was saved from responding by a ding from her phone. “Oh! Alana said she found your mom and they’re on their way here.”

Naomi hopped up and looked around. Suddenly, her eyes lit up and she raced toward her mother and Alana.

“Oh my gosh!” Her mother yelled, scooping Naomi up in her arms. “I told you not to wander off!” She scolded, squeezing her daughter tightly. She turned toward the girls. “Thank you so much. You have no idea how worried I was.”

“It was no trouble.” Alana assured her. “I’m just glad you found each other.”

Naomi waved by as she was toted off by her mother.

“She was sweet.” Alana said.

“Yeah.” Zoe nodded, rocking back on her heels. “You were really good with her.”

“Oh! Thanks.” Alana smiled. “I used to help out in my little sister’s kindergarten class so I’m used to talking to little kids.”

“You also work at Disneyland.” Zoe pointed out.

Alana laughed. “Right. That too.”

“So um… what were you saying before all that?”

“Oh right.” Alana clasped her hands. “Well I was just saying I was gonna go get dinner and I was wondering if you wanted to come with me… to dinner. If you want.”

“Are you asking me on a date?” Zoe smiled.

Alana stammered for a minute and then took a breath. “Yes. I’m asking you to go on a date with me.” She looked up. “If that’s okay.”

Zoe grinned. She stepped forward and kissed Alana quickly. “I’d love to go on a date with you.”

“Oh.” Alana smiled. “Great.” She reached out and intertwined her fingers with Zoe’s. “I had some ideas of where we could go.”

“Let’s hear them.” Zoe said, swinging their hands as they walked toward the park’s exit.


	6. Evan/Jared

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jared asks Evan to come camping with his family and Evan learns how dating Jared works.  
> Requested by @kelly_is_not_sushi on instagram

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags: camping, established relationship, fluff, Jared is soft ONLY when he wants to be

“Hey.” Evan smiled as he met Jared at his locker.

“Hi. Uh,” Jared faltered. “Do I hug you?”

“I mean… you can.” Evan shrugged.

Jared hugged him. It was weird. They had been dating for two weeks so it was still sort of weird. But it was made even weirder by the fact that this was their first day of school. Evan felt like everyone was staring at him even though they very clearly were not.

“Let’s… not ever hug like that again.” Jared said, wrinkling his nose. “That was really uncomfortable.”

“Agreed.” Evan nodded.

“Hey so uh, question.” Jared closed his locker and leaned against it.

“What’s up?”

“My family is doing this stupid camping trip thing. It was supposed to be over summer but they waited too long to plan it so we’re going this weekend.”

“Mhm.”

“Would you maybe want to come?” Jared asked, pulling on his backpack straps.

“Um… I mean… sure. I guess?” Evan said. He shook his head when he saw Jared’s face. “No I mean obviously I want to. I just- would your parents be okay with that?”

“Oh.” Jared shrugged. “Yeah. Mom told me to invite you.”

“Then yes. I’d love to go.”

“Okay cool.” Jared said as the bell rang. He glanced down the hallway and then stepped forward and kissed Evan’s cheek quickly before turning and walking to first period.

“Are you sure this isn’t going to be awkward?” Evan asked for the millionth time.

“Dude.” Jared put his hands on his hips. “We’re literally already here. So, it doesn’t matter.”

“But-”

“Are you going to keep talking or are you going to help me set up the tent Evan?”

Evan sighed but helped Jared drag the tent box over to a relatively flat area.

They spent nearly an hour trying to pitch their tent (much to the amusement of Mrs. Kleinman) and then they helped Jared’s parents unpack everything else from the car. By the time they finished, Mr. Kleinman was lighting up the grill to start making dinner.

“Are you cold?” Jared asked, eyeing Evan who was shivering slightly.

“No I’m fine.”

“You’re cold.”

“I’m fine Jared.”

Jared sighed loudly. “You’re so difficult.” He said, slightly muffled by the hoodie that was over his face. He pulled it the rest of the way off and passed it to Evan.

“I’m not cold.” Evan mumbled, pulling the hoodie on anyway. Partly because he _was_ cold and partly because Evan had figured out that Jared was only romantic when he wanted to be and he was learning to appreciate those moments when they came.

They ate and talked and Jared’s dad asked Evan five times if he was sure he didn’t want another burger. Then, Jared’s parents stood up and announced they were going to bed.

“Keep it down and Jared… _Jared_.” She paused, waiting for him to look at her. “Do not go to bed without putting out the fire or I will leave you here. Understand?”

“ _Yes_ mom.” Jared rolled his eyes.

“I’ll make sure he does it.” Evan said.

Mrs. Kleinman sighed. “Thank god for you Evan.” She ruffled his hair. Then she winked at Jared. “Good choice.”

“ _Mom!_ ”

“Okay. Okay.” She waved her hands. “Goodnight boys.” She called and crawled into her tent with her husband.

“Nice to know she approves of me.” Evan laughed.

“Oh trust me, she was hoping it was you from the minute I came out.”

Evan smiled. “Well, that’s lucky.”

“Yeah.” Jared looked at him for a minute and then he stood up and walked to the tent.

“Uh, are you going to bed?”

“Nope!” Jared called, crawling inside. He emerged a second later with a large blanket. He spread it out on the ground by the fire and sat down. He patted the spot next to him. “Come sit.”

Evan stood up and dropped down beside him.

“You know you could sit a _little_ closer.” Jared said with a tone that sounded far more annoyed than he looked.

“Sorry.” Evan scooted closer.

Jared leaned his head on Evan’s shoulder and Evan put his arm around him. Jared was more affectionate when he was tired. Another thing Evan was learning to savor.

They sat like that for a while. Evan tipped his head back to look at the stars and he felt Jared lean harder on his shoulder.

“Hey.” He poked Jared’s side. “Let’s go to bed. You’re tired.”

“Mmm.” Jared blinked slowly. “Okay.” He looked over. “You get up first.”

Evan sighed and stood up. He took Jared’s outstretched hands and pulled him to his feet. Jared smiled.

“Thanks.” He kissed the tip of Evan’s nose and then grinned when Evan blushed. “Come on.”

“Put the fire out.”

“Oh right.” Jared stretched and shook his head to wake himself up. He grabbed one of the half empty water bottles from the table and dumped it over the fire until all the embers fizzled out. “Thanks for reminding me.” He took Evan’s hand and pulled him to the tent. “What would I do without you?”

“Set a campsite on fire.” Evan said, trying to keep himself from blushing again at how close Jared was.

Jared smiled slightly. “Hilarious.” He leaned in.

“I learn from the best.” Evan mumbled before leaning the rest of the way and kissing Jared.

“Look at that.” Jared said, tilting his head. “We kissed under the stars. That’s romantic as fuck.” Then ducked down and disappeared into the tent. Evan shook his head, smiling, and followed him inside.


	7. Zoe/Alana 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alana worries about how long distance will affect her relationship with Zoe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags: established relationship, fluff, reassurance, comfort

“What time are you coming home on Sunday though?” Zoe asked. He voice was crackly through the phone speaker.

“I’m not sure.” Alana was sprawled out on her hotel bed. “Should be in the afternoon sometime.”

“So we can hang out in the evening then?” Zoe asked. “We could have a sleepover!”

“Sure.” Alana smiled. “That would be great.”

“Awesome. It’s a date.” There was a yelling in the background and Zoe groaned. “I have to go. We’re about to have dinner and mom and Connor are fighting again. I’ll talk to you later okay?”

“Okay. I love you.”

“Love yo-” The call ended before Zoe finished talking.

Alana sighed. She and Zoe both had hectic lives (for very different reasons) and sometimes it made it difficult for them to put couple stuff first.

Alana was in five AP classes as well as a community college course. After school she had debate and student body president responsibilities. On the weekends she had music lessons and SAT prep. It was honestly surprising she even had time to realize she was a lesbian let alone get a girlfriend.

Zoe wasn’t nearly as focused on academics or extra curriculars. Not that she wasn’t smart. She was extremely smart and she did her work on time to keep her grades up. She took an AP class here and there. But she wasn’t really interested in overloading her schedule with extra stuff. But her life was still nearly as busy as Alana’s. She had her regular homework, plus jazz band rehearsals and performances. And of course when she got home she had to deal with her family arguing almost constantly.

It was tough for them to find time to do anything one on one. But Alana made it to every one of Zoe’s concerts and Zoe helped Alana study for big tests. They made it work.

However, college was looming closer and closer for Alana and Zoe was still a junior. They were able to find little slices of time for each other now because they were only a five minute drive apart. But what about when Alana was three states away and Zoe still had to share her car with Connor?

Just this week that Alana had been away with her parents for the annual vacation had been tough. She started to worry that long distance wouldn’t be sustainable. What if Zoe got tired of only getting to talk through text and occasional facetime calls? What if she met someone else who actually had time to take her on dates every weekend? What if the distance made her realize that Alana wasn’t all that great?

When Alana arrived home on Sunday, Zoe was waiting on her front porch. She engulfed Alana in a hug and for a moment, all of Alana’s fears melted away.

“I missed you.” Zoe squeezed her extra tight before releasing her.

“I missed you too.” Alana smiled.

Zoe helped them bring all their bags in from the car and then the two girls settled onto the couch.

“Did you want to go somewhere for dinner?” Alana asked.

Zoe shook her head. “We can just order pizza or something. I just wanna hang out.”

“Okay.” Alana picked at the nail polish that was chipping off of her pointer finger.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“Yeah. I’m fine.” Alana nodded too enthusiastically. “Do you want to watch a movie?”

Zoe frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Really.”

Zoe gave her a look.

“Okay.” Alana sighed. “I was just thinking about how hard last week was.”

“Yeah.” Zoe frowned. “But it’s over now.”

“Yeah… but I graduate in a month Zoe.” Alana looked at her. “And then I’m moving pretty far away for college and it’s gonna be like last week for who knows how long.”

“Well… yeah.” Zoe tilted her head. “So what?”

“What do you mean so what?” Alana raised her eyebrows. “So… so that sucks! And it’ll be hard!”

“I mean, yeah it’ll suck not getting to see each other every day but… we can still do it. We can handle it, you know?”

“Yeah but we’re both so busy all the time. We’ll hardly ever have time to see each other. I mean, I’ll be home for winter break and summer but…”

“Lana.” Zoe laced their fingers together. “It’ll be fine. We’ll facetime every night and text all day. And before you know it, it’ll be December and you can come home.”

“Are you sure it won’t be too hard for you?”

“Of course not.” Zoe smiled. “I love you. Anything would be worth it.”

Alana hugged her tightly. “I love you too.”


	8. Christine/Brooke

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Brooke lands the lead in the play but she's struggling to remember her lines. Luckily, Christine offers to help her out.  
> Requested by @the_believer_mage on instagram

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags: flirting, play rehearsal, Christine blushes a lot

“Why do you have to leave so soon?”

“I promised my mother I’d be home before midnight.”

“But we were just getting to know each other.”

“I know but… we… uh… oh shit.”

“Brooke!” Mr. Reyes barked. “Come with your lines prepared or don’t come at all!”

“I’m sorry.” Brooke flushed. “I swear I had them down this morning.”

“Fifteen minute break and then we run it again.” Mr. Reyes clapped and then disappeared behind the curtains.

“Fuck.” Brooke kicked one of the prop chairs.

“Hi!” Christine suddenly appeared at her side. She was smiling.

“Hey Christine.”

“Don’t feel too bad about Reyes. He’s always really hard on newbies.” She rocked back on her heels. “I think you’re doing really great.”

“Oh, thanks.” Brooke smiled. She’d never really talked to Christine before. She had been expecting her to be angry that Brooke had taken her spotlight as the lead in the current production.

“Have you and Marcus tried running lines outside of rehearsal?” Christine asked, cocking her head.

“No.” Brooke sighed. She and her scene partner weren’t exactly best pals. “He always leaves as soon as rehearsal is over.” She sat on the floor and leaned back on her hands.

Christine sat in front of her, cross legged. “That can be really helpful sometimes.” She said. “To practice in a low-stakes environment without Reyes watching.”

“Yeah. I don’t think Marcus wants to spend any more time with me than he has to.” Brooke admitted. “I don’t even know how I got this role.” She dropped her chin into her hands. “It should’ve gone to you.”

“Oh.” Christine blushed slightly. “Well, thanks. But I actually didn’t audition for the lead.”

“What?” Brooke frowned. “Why not?”

“Well… I really like the role I got.” Christine’s face get redder. “And… I overheard you telling Chloe how excited you were to audition. I just wanted you to get your first choice. I mean I’ve been the lead plenty of times. It’s rare that we get new people who are so excited about theater. Not to mention brave enough to try out for a lead for their first show. Besides, I saw your audition. You’re really good. You’re going to be great when we open.”

“Wow uh…” Brooke faltered. She didn’t think anyone had ever said so many nice things to her in a row. “Thanks Christine. That’s really cool of you. But I mean you really didn’t have to do that for me.”

“It’s okay!” She insisted. “Like I said, I’ve been the lead before and I’m sure I will again. I don’t have to have it _every_ single time.”

Brooke laughed. Christine was cute. “I guess that’s true. I’m sure you have a million lead roles in your future.”

Christine smiled. “If you want, maybe you could come over sometime this week and we could run lines together. I don’t mind reading Marcus’s part for you.”

“Really?”

“Sure.” Christine stood up as she noticed Reyes come back into the room. She held her hands out and pulled Brooke to her feet too.

“That would be really great. As long as it’s not too much trouble or anything.”

“No trouble at all!” Christine beamed. She looked down suddenly and realized they were still holding hands. She quickly let go and cleared her throat. “Well um, I’ll meet you after rehearsal okay? We can exchange numbers?”

“Okay.” Brooke nodded. “Hey maybe we can go get lunch or something after we finish running lines.”

Christine nodded quickly. “I would love that.”


	9. Jeremy/Michael 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremy convinces Michael to try out for the school musical and Michael is... bad. But he somehow gets a role anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags: getting together, fluff, michael being bad at dancing, the musical is grease also

“Jeremy!” Michael grabbed his shoulders. “I got cast.”

“Really? That’s awesome.”

“IT’S A NIGHTMARE!” Michael shook him violently.

Jeremy shoved him away. “What? Why? The whole point of trying out together was to be in the play together.”

“NO.” Michael corrected. “The _point_ was ‘show up and support your friend while always knowing that there’s no way _you’re_ getting a role because why _would_ you?’ THAT WAS THE POINT.”

“Well…” Jeremy crossed his arms. “You should’ve thought about that before you auditioned.”

“Jeremy you’ve seen me dance. You know I can’t be in a fucking musical.”

“What role did you get?”

“I don’t know. Some background guy named Kenickie.”

Jeremy choked. “Dude, that’s not a background role he’s like Danny’s best friend.”

“WHAT?”

“Wow, you must have really blown them away with your audition man.”

“Or our school lacks talent.”

“That’s possible.” Jeremy shrugged. “Anyway that’s awesome. I think it’ll be good for you to have a little bit of the spotlight.”

Michael crossed his arms and smirked. “You haven’t seen the cast list have you?”

“No. Why?” Jeremy eyed him.

“Nothing.” Michael grinned and ruffled his hair. “See you later Danny!”

“Wait!” Jeremy raced after him. “MICHAEL PLEASE TELL ME YOU’RE JOKING!”

As it turned out, Michael was not joking. Only three boys auditioned so they were cast as the boys with the most lines and the rest of the male roles were given to girls. Christine was playing Sandy, of course. And Chloe had been convinced to join only because Brooke (who auditioned for and got Frenchie) begged her to and the fact that she perfectly encapsulated the spirit of Rizzo.

“This is so stupid.” Michael whispered as they walked into the auditorium. “I’m quitting.”

“No!” Jeremy hissed. “You are not leaving me here alone.”

“You _wanted_ to do this!”

“I wanted us _both_ to do this!”

“Oh good.” Mr. Reyes clapped. “Our lead decided to show up.”

Jeremy waved awkwardly as Reyes launched into a speech about theater and teamwork.

Michael was bad. There was no denying it. He could sing pretty well and his acting was decent. It was the dancing that killed him. He couldn’t remember the choreography and he kept running into people.

“Sorry! Sorry!” He called after tripping Jeremy for the third time. “I thought I was supposed to go left there.”

“You _are_ supposed to go left.” Mr. Reyes growled. “You went right.”

“Oh.” Michael held up his left hand in an L shape. “Whoops.”

“Stop trying to get kicked out.” Jeremy whispered.

“It’s really sweet that you think this is intentional.” Michael whispered back.

Jeremy liked theater. After he joined the play the year before he’d discovered it was sort of fun to pretend to be someone else. And he wanted Michael to be a part of it because… well mostly because rehearsal took up most of his time and he wanted to be able to spend that time with Michael too. Michael… did not like theater. Well, he liked _watching_ it. He went to all of Jeremy’s shows. But he didn’t like being on the stage. He got nervous when everyone stared at him and he didn’t have a great memory for lines. And holy shit was he a bad dancer.

After rehearsal, Mr. Reyes mumbled something about the show being a train wreck and left. Michael was lying flat on his back in the middle of the stage.

“Hey guys!” Christine called. “We’re going to get something to eat? Wanna come?”

Jeremy looked at the floor where Michael was sprawled out. Michael groaned.

“Maybe next time.” Jeremy called. He waved as the girls made their way out. He squatted down beside Michael. “Stand up. Maybe I can help you.”

“No.”

“Come on.” Jeremy tugged at his arm.

Michael groaned as Jeremy dragged him to his feet.

“Okay. So start from here.” He pulled up the song on his phone and set it on the ground.

Michael sighed as he got into his starting position. He half assed the moves and mumbled the lyrics.

“Come on.” Jeremy shoved him and bent down to start the song over. “Take it seriously.”

“Ug.”

“Like this.” Jeremy grabbed his arms and moved them where they were supposed to be. Michael got very quiet as Jeremy moved him around.

“Stop dropping your arms!”

“I don’t even want to do this.”

“Then why are you?” Jeremy put his hands on his hips.

“Because you asked me to!”

“So?”

“So!” Michael stopped. “So it’s hard to say no to you.”

Jeremy rolled his eyes. “That’s not true.”

“Easy for you to say.” Michael mumbled. “You’ve never had to look at your stupid ‘I’m really excited about this’ face.”

“Well I _am_ excited.”

“I know that’s why I’m here. I just wish you were excited about like… video game club or some shit.”

Jeremy sighed. “You don’t have to stay if you really hate it that much.” He watched Michael run a hand through his hair.

“But you want me to.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to.”

Michael made an annoyed sound in his throat. “I do though.”

“What are you talking about?”

Michael suddenly spun around and marched up to Jeremy. He stopped inches away. Jeremy raised his eyebrows and swallowed hard.

“Um, Michael?”

“Yeah.”

“What are you-”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t… know.” Jeremy nodded, not backing away.

Michael pursed his lips. “I really hate being in this play Jeremy.”

“I just… wanted to spend time with you.” Jeremy said quietly.

Michael nodded and then dipped his head down and kissed Jeremy. Jeremy stood on his toes and wrapped his arms around Michael’s neck.

“I hate this play.”

“I know. So shut up and quit then.” He pulled Michael back down.

Michael didn’t quit the play entirely. He joined the tech crew instead. He liked being in the shadows carrying a clipboard around and wearing a headset. And he still got to watch Jeremy rehearse and make faces at him to try and get him to laugh.

By the time they had their first dress rehearsal Michael had gotten the hang of his job. He stood in the wings as Jeremy walked off stage to let Christine take her solo.

Michael grabbed his arm and pulled him to the side. “You look good in a leather jacket.”

“Thanks.” Jeremy rolled his eyes. “But I need to go take it off now so I can change.”

“One second.” Michael leaned down and kissed him.

“I’m gonna miss my cue if I don’t…” Jeremy paused and kissed him again. “Okay I need to go now!” He whispered, shoving Michael back, laughing. He rushed off to change and Michael leaned against the wall, grinning.

Jeremy brushed past him a minute later, now in a different outfit with the same leather jacket on top.

“You should buy one of those. It’s really working for me.” Michael whispered, before disappearing backstage.

Jeremy did his next scene while blushing profusely.


	10. Evan/Jared 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jared lets Evan pick their first date and he picks ice skating.   
> Requested by @just_average_maggie on instagram

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags: established relationship, fluff, jared being clumsy, hurt/comfort (but physically)

“No.” Jared said as soon as they parked. “No. Absolutely not.”

“You said I could pick our first date.” Evan said. He got out of the car and waited for Jared to join him.

“Yeah. Because I thought your nerd ass would pick like… a picnic or something.”

Evan shrugged. “Well I picked this.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s fun.”

“Struggling to not break all my bones for two hours is _not_ what I’d consider fun Evan.”

“Remember that conversation we had about compromise?”

“I’m going to have to _compromise_ my health.” Jared said. He sighed when Evan crossed his arms. “Fine. If this is what you want.” He pulled one of Evan’s hands away and laced their fingers together. “Let’s go.”

“Alright.” The girl at the counter smiled brightly as she handed Evan his receipt. “Here’s your skates. Have a great time!”

“Thank you.” Evan smiled politely and grabbed the skates.

“I’m gonna fall on my ass.” Jared grumbled as they sat down and put their skates on.

“Just don’t fall.” Evan smiled as Jared glared at him. “You’ll be fine.”

They walked out to the edge of the rink and Evan stepped out easily. He skated in a quick circle to get adjusted.

“Um,” Jared stared at him. “When were you gonna tell me you’re a professional ice skater huh?”

Evan rolled his eyes. “I took lessons when I was little remember?”

“Yeah but you were like ten. How do you still remember?”

“You’re stalling.” Evan put his hands on his hips.

“I’m gonna eat shit.”

Evan held his hands out. “Come on.”

Jared sighed and took Evan’s hands. He stepped cautiously onto the ice.

“See? You’re fine.” Evan started moving backward, pulling Jared along.

“This is terrifying.” Jared was sure he was crushing Evan’s hands but if he was going to fall, he was taking Evan down with him. “I hate you.”

“You’re doing good.” Evan wrenched one of his hands away and swung around to skate beside Jared.

“Ew. It’s like we’re in a Christmas movie.” Jared wrinkled his nose.

“It’s fun.” Evan pushed off a little harder and they sped up.

“Hey whoa.” Jared tightened his grip. “I was just getting used to that speed.”

“You’re literally perfectly fine.” Evan rolled his eyes. “Watch.”

“What are you doing?” Jared panicked slightly as Evan let go of his hand. He skated a distance away. “Evan! I’m gonna kill you!”

“You have to catch me first.” Evan grinned.

He skated just out of Jared’s reach, laughing. His nose and cheeks were red from the cold. If they hadn’t been balancing on knife shoes on a giant ice cube, Jared would’ve kissed him. But they were. So he was much more focused on reaching the wall before he slipped and cracked his head open. He somehow made it safely to the wall and inched his way over to Evan.

“You skated to the edge perfectly fine.” Evan said. He was skating backwards in front of Jared again, the show off. “You don’t need the wall.”

“You don’t tell me what I need Hansen.” Jared grumbled.

Eventually, Evan coerced Jared away from the wall and pulled him into the center of the rink. He felt a lot more stable holding Evan’s hand. But not that much more. After about an hour (he assumed) his ankles were starting to hurt and he was somehow freezing and sweating at the same time.

“Can you do flips?” Jared asked, watching Evan glide around him easily while he threw his own arms out for balance.

“What?” Evan frowned. “Of course not.”

“Be cooler if you could.”

“I wasn’t like professionally training. I just took- whoa!” Evan nearly lost his balance as a little girl with flailing arms went zipping past him.

Jared laughed, briefly forgetting to use every muscle to keep his balance. And then all of the sudden, his feet were not underneath him and pain shot through him as he smacked onto the ice.

“Oh fuck!” He squeezed his eyes shut.

“Are you okay!” Evan dropped to his knees which Jared would’ve thought was painful if he wasn’t too busy aching all over.

“’M fine.” He said through gritted teeth.

“You don’t seem fine.” Evan looked worried. He raised his hand and waved over one of the workers.

“Everything okay?”

“I think he’s hurt.”

“I’m _fine_.” Jared said, pushing himself into a sitting position. “I just twisted my ankle a little. And probably bruised my tailbone.”

“Alright.” The worker held out a hand. “Let’s get you off the ice.”

Jared took her hand and tried to stand up. “Fuck. Fuck. No.” He shook his head and sat back down, taking the pressure off his ankle. “That hurts.”

The worker grabbed a walkie talkie off her belt loop and said something into it. Another worker appeared and they carefully lifted Jared up and half carried him off the ice and over to a bench. Evan followed, looking concerned.

“Okay,” A woman with a first aid kit came over. “We need to take the skate off so we can take a look.”

“Uh, are you sure? I mean can’t we just leave it on?”

The nurse lady ignored him and started unlacing it. Jared grabbed for Evan’s hand and squeezed it tightly.

“Ow. Ow. Ow. OW!”

“Sorry.” The girl shot him an apologetic smile. “It’s off now.” She pulled his sock down to reveal his red, swollen ankle underneath. She felt it lightly and Jared winced. “I’m going to rotate your ankle a bit to make sure it’s not broken.”

“I really don’t think you should- OW JESUS!”

“Sorry.” She set Jared’s foot down on a chair so it was elevated and then stood up. “It’s definitely not broken. But it’s sprained. We’re gonna get you some ice and you’re gonna need to stay off it for a few days.” She turned to one of the workers and sent them to go get ice. “If the swelling doesn’t go down in a week, go see a doctor.”

“Gee thanks.” Jared muttered as she walked away.

“I’m sorry.” Evan said quietly.

Jared turned to look at him. He was pale and looked like he was about to cry. “Dude.” Jared bumped his shoulder. “It’s not your fault.”

“I picked this date.”

“Yeah and _I_ wasn’t paying attention to my feet.” Jared reached over and turned Evan’s face away from his ankle. “It’s fine. I’m okay. Don’t feel bad.”

Evan nodded but he didn’t look convinced. Jared leaned over and kissed him quickly.

“I was actually having fun before this.” He lied.

“You were?”

“Yeah.” He thanked the girl that situated an ice pack on his foot. “It was cool. You were right.”

Evan smiled a little. “I’m still sorry you got hurt.”

“It’s not even that bad.” Jared waved him off. “My date idea was gonna be alligator wrestling so this was probably the safer option.”

That made Evan giggle. He leaned his head on Jared’s shoulder. “I guess it’s fitting that our first date ended in an injury.” He said. “Knowing us.”

“True.” Jared squeezed his hand. “Let’s try not to make it a trend though okay?”

“No promises.” Evan laughed.


	11. Jeremy/Michael 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael and Jeremy go to a wedding together, platonically. But it doesn't stay that way.  
> Requested by @the.story.of.the.tucks on instagram

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags: getting together, wedding goofs, fluff

“A wedding.” Michael stared at the card in his hand.

“That is what it says.” Jeremy brushed past him and made his way into Michael’s kitchen.

“We are children.” Michael followed him. “Tiny little itty bitty babies. Why the fuck are they getting married?”

“Michael,” Jeremy leaned against the counter. “We’re twenty two. That’s not a totally unreasonable age to get married.”

“Actually, _I’m_ twenty two.” Michael smirked. “ _You_ are a little baby boy who is only twenty one.”

“For like two weeks!”

“Haha!” Michael ruffled his hair. “What’s it like being a child?”

“Shut up!” Jeremy shoved him. “Will you come with me?”

“What like… as your _date?”_ Michael gasped. “Jeremy imagine the scandal.”

“As my plus one actually. But also, it’s Brooke. She’s literally marrying a woman. What scandal would there be?”

“The fact that you showed up with your childhood best friend as your date who is, tragically, the hottest person there and therefore, steals the spotlight.”

Jeremy rolled his eyes. “Fine, you’re right. I’ll ask Christine.”

“No!” Michael jumped up. “I haven’t had cake in so long. Don’t deprive me of cake Jeremy. I would love to be your date and I promise I won’t show everyone up by being hot!” He gave Jeremy his best puppy dog face.

“Fine. But only because Chris was already invited.”

“Wait, am I the only one she didn’t invite? Harsh.”

“She was low on place settings and she said she knew I’d bring you anyway. So basically, we’re both invited we just don’t get plus ones.”

“I’ll take it.”

“I can’t believe you made me wear this.” Michael fiddled with his collar for the millionth time.

“A suit?” Jeremy rolled his eyes. “It’s a wedding. You can’t wear a hoodie.”

“I could’ve worn a dress.”

“Do you _have_ a dress?”

Michael crossed his arms. “No. But that’s not the point.”

“Shut up.” Jeremy elbowed him. “It’s starting.”

They sat quietly through the ceremony. Well, mostly quietly.

“Why is her dress so…”

“Shut up Michael.”

“It’s so ruffly!” Michael whisper yelled. “She looks like a cupcake.”

Jeremy violently coughed to mask his laughter. “Shut _up_.” He hissed.

Michael continued to make comments and Jeremy continued to elbow him sharply in the side. They received more than a few nasty looks from older wedding guests which made Jeremy turn bright red but just made Michael snicker. Finally, the ceremony was over and they were released into the dining hall.

“You are so annoying!” Jeremy shoved Michael’s head.

“You’re gonna fuck up my hair.” Michael whined. “I spent ten minutes ensuring it was properly mussed.”

“Waste of ten minutes.” Rich teased, cutting in front of him in the food line.

“Rude. Jeremy tell him I look hot.”

“No.”

“Christine!”

“You look very handsome Michael.” Christine beamed at him.

“Thank you.” Michael hugged her. “You’re the only person here who appreciates me.”

After dinner (and a teeny tiny little food fight that put Michael, Rich, and Jeremy in the bathroom for fifteen minutes, rinsing food out of their hair) there was dancing.

Michael and Jeremy sat and watched as Christine tried to teach Rich how to dance to the fast paced song that was playing.

Michael cleared his throat and stood up. He held out his hand. “Sir, if you wouldn’t mind doing me the honor?”

Jeremy snorted but took his hand. “Sure.”

Neither of them really knew how to dance so it was mainly Michael swinging them around and Jeremy tripping over his feet to keep up.

The song switched suddenly and Rich fumbled to adjust his hands as Christine easily slipped into a waltz.

Jeremy expected Michael to head back to the table, or suggest they go get a drink. Instead, he slid his hands around Jeremy’s waist and hummed softly along to the song. Jeremy matched his slow steps.

“This is nice.” Michael said after a while. “I could do this.”

“What? Dancing?”

“No. The wedding.” Michael was looking across the room where Brooke and her new wife were smiling and hugging people. “It’s fun.”

“Mmm.” Jeremy agreed. “Who are you gonna marry though? You can’t get a boyfriend until you learn how to talk to boys.”

“I talk to you just fine.”

“So what then? You gonna marry me?” Jeremy teased.

He laughed but when he turned back Michael was looking at him with an expression that was far too serious. It wasn’t that he’d never thought about it before. He’d thought about it a thousand times. But it had always just been a background thought. He and Michael were friends. Best friends. He didn’t mind when Michael went on dates and Michael was always excited when Jeremy got a new crush. But he couldn’t pretend those in between moments weren’t there. When they were both single and the teasing was a little too close to flirting. When they sat closer together on the couch, when the jokes about thinking Michael was hot were a little too serious, when Michael waited just a little too long to stop jokingly calling Jeremy his boyfriend. But that’s as far as it ever went before they shoved things safely back into the friendship category.

“Maybe.” Michael shrugged, smiling just slightly. “Guess that depends on you.”

“You wouldn’t want to marry me.” Jeremy said, only half joking.

“Mmm?” They had nearly stopped swaying altogether. “Why’s that?”

“Cause,” Jeremy swallowed. Michael was so close. “You’d get tired of me.”

“I’ve been around you for eighteen years Jer. Haven’t gotten tired yet.”

Jeremy was very aware that they weren’t dancing anymore. And that Michael’s hands were on his hips, pulling him closer just a tiny bit. Soft enough that Jeremy could ignore it. He stepped forward.

“Jeremy! Michael!”

They jumped apart. Michael’s face was red and Jeremy was sure his was too. Brooke grinned and hugged them each tightly.

“I’m so glad you guys made it!”

“Of course.” Jeremy smiled. “We wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Michael nodded. “You look beautiful Brooke.”

“So do you!” She grabbed his hands and took him in. “I never thought I’d see you in a suit.”

“Well, _someone_ said I couldn’t wear a hoodie.” He jerked his thumb at Jeremy.

Brooke laughed. “Well, I have a million more people to talk to but I’ll talk to you guys later okay?”

“Sure thing.” Michael smiled.

“See you later.” Jeremy let her hug him one more time.

And then it was just the two of them again. But not like before when it felt like it actually _was_ just the two of them. Now it felt like it was just the two of them on a dance floor filled with people.

“Drink?” Michael said suddenly, looking a lot more tense than he had a second ago.

“Sure.”

They sat at the bar and drank and the awkwardness of whatever had almost happened faded quickly. And then it was just them, laughing and talking like always. Christine came over and joined them for a bit. Rich dropped by a few times to buy drinks for some guy he was chatting up too. And then he disappeared and a cute bridesmaid came over and asked Christine to dance.

And they were alone once more.

“Let’s have less dancing at our wedding.” Jeremy said, maybe because he was drunk, maybe because he wanted Michael to look at him like he had been earlier, maybe because he was entirely serious.

Michael nodded, taking a long drink. “More food too.”

“Yes.” Jeremy sat up. “And let’s have one of those cakes that a person pops out of.”

“Yes! And I want to come down the aisle on a zip line.”

“Okay then I want to drop through the roof.”

“What like… with a parachute?”

“No of course not. Don’t be ridiculous.” Jeremy shook his head seriously. “I mean like with those things in the spy movies.” Michael started giggling but Jeremy went on. “You know that like clips to the back of your suit and lowers you down so you can steal something.”

Michael was bent over on his stool, nearly crying with laughter. “We could play the Mission Impossible theme while you do it.”

“Well obviously!”

Michael sat up and caught his breath. “Best wedding ever.”

“We’re a good team.”

Michael hummed in agreement. “That we are.”

“Earlier,” Jeremy paused, swirling his drink around. “When we were dancing…”

“Yes.” Michael said quietly. “I was going to kiss you.”

“How did you know that’s what I was gonna ask?”

Michael shrugged.

“I would’ve kissed you back.” Jeremy said, blushing furiously.

Michael smiled slightly, still looking at his drink. “Would you still? If I kissed you right now?”

“No.”

Michael looked over, wide eyed. “Oh. Sorry. I didn’t-”

“Michael.” Jeremy laughed, shoving him. “I’m kidding.”

Michael sighed and closed his eyes. “That was _not_ funny.

“It was a little funny.” Jeremy leaned forward. Michael glared at him. “If you kiss me right now I promise I’ll kiss you back.”

“Well I don’t know if I want to anymore.” Michael said, leaning back and taking a drink.

“I want you to.”

Michael’s fake annoyance disappeared and he set his drink down. “Okay. But not if it’s because you’re drunk and just want to make out with someone.”

Jeremy shook his head. “It’s because I like you and want to date you.”

Michael looked at him for a second. “Me too.” And then he grabbed Jeremy’s face and kissed him. “Marry me in five years.” He said when he pulled back.

“We’ve been dating for five seconds Michael.”

“If we’re still together in five years.” Michael amended. “Then marry me.”

“Okay.” Jeremy nodded. “Sure.” He pulled Michael back in.


	12. Jeremy/Michael 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael is (playfully) bullied into confessing his feelings for Jeremy.  
> Requested by @rosematchalette on instagram

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags: confession, getting together, fluff, it rains, pining idiots

“If you keep making that face I’m gonna punch you Michael.” Rich warned.

Michael blinked and straightened up. “I wasn’t making a face.”

“Yes you were.”

“What face?”

“The face you always make when you’re staring at Jeremy.”

“I don’t make a face and I don’t _stare_ at him.” Michael huffed.

“Last week you zoned out for two minutes and fourteen seconds while staring at him.” Rich crossed his arms. “I timed you.”

“That’s… not relevant.”

“Why don’t you just ask him out?”

Michael gestured across the room and made a face like he’d just proved some kind of point.

“Yeah…” Rich raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know what that means.”

“Look at them.”

Rich glanced over. Jeremy and Christine were huddled over a table laughing about something.

“Yeah. They’re laughing. So what?”

“They’re _flirting_.” Michael corrected.

“Dude, they don’t even like each other anymore.” Rich elbowed him.

“That’s what they want us to think.”

“What would they gain from lying about that?”

“I don’t know.” Michael shrugged. “But I can tell. I know Jeremy. He always giggles like that around her. Especially before he ‘stopped liking’ her.”

Rich glared at him. “First of all, don’t use air quotes in front of me. Second, you absolute moron, he also does that around you. Like a lot. It’s actually kinda disgusting how hard he laughs at anything that comes out of your mouth.”

“Rich, look at them.” Michael gestured again to where Christine was showing Jeremy something on her phone and Jeremy appeared to be pretending to be sad but he laughed when Christine shoved him. “They’re clearly into each other.”

“Why is he so _cuuuute?”_ Jeremy whined, taking Christine’s phone and zooming in on the picture of her and Michael.

“Not sure how offended I should be that you don’t care that I’m also in that picture.” Christine teased.

Jeremy laughed. “You already know I think you’re adorable.”

“I already know you think Michael is _‘sooooo cute’_ too.” She pointed out. “But yet you continue to remind me.”

“Well I have no one else to remind so, you’ll have to deal with it.” Jeremy swiped to the next picture and groaned loudly. In this one, Michael was mid-laugh with his eyes squeezed shut. “God that’s so unfair.”

“Have you tried talking to Rich about it?”

“No I- wait,” Jeremy frowned at her. “Rich?”

“Yeah.” Christine nodded to where Rich and Michael were having a serious looking conversation across the room. She waved. Rich grinned and waved back. Michael slid down in his seat, offering only a nod. “He and Michael are pretty close. Maybe he’d be able to tell you that you’re being stupid and dumb and ridiculous and that Michael very clearly likes you back.”

“Don’t patronize me.” Jeremy scolded, handing her phone back. “Michael doesn’t like me and either way I am _not_ going to talk to _Rich_ about it.”

“Why not?”

“Because he would immediately tell Michael!”

“Oh come on.” Christine paused. “Okay, actually you’re probably right.” She admitted. “But it wouldn’t matter because he likes you too.”

“Chris I told you, that’s just how he acts around everyone.”

“Not me. Not Rich. Not Jake or Jenna or Brooke or Chloe.”

“Shut up.” Jeremy pouted. “If he liked me I would’ve noticed. I’ve seen the way he acts around crushes before. He’s kind of a flirt.”

“Maybe,” Christine said softly. “He doesn’t act like that around _you_ because you used to spend so much time talking about _me_.”

Jeremy frowned at her.

“Think about it,” Christine nodded at Michael’s table again. “If Michael started talking all the time about how much he liked, say, Rich, would you try to make a move on him?”

“I wouldn’t make a move either way.” Jeremy pointed out. “Clearly.”

“Right okay. But you get my point. I know you used to talk about me a lot because Michael’s mentioned it before. And that probably sucked for him. He probably didn’t want to try anything when he knew you liked someone else. And Jeremy, I mean you should’ve seen his face when he talked about you and me. He just looked so… sad.”

“That doesn’t…” Jeremy trailed off. It was a weak argument and he knew it. “Shut up.”

“I’m just saying.” Christine patted his arm.

“Dude this is like the fifteenth time he’s looked over here in the past ten minutes. Just _please_ talk to him or make out with him or punch him in the face I don’t _care_ anymore.” Rich begged.

“How do you know he’s not looking at you?” Michael wiggled his eyebrows.

“Because if he was into me I would’ve picked up on it instantly and confronted him two weeks ago.”

“It could be you.”

“It’s not me.” Rich kicked him. “It’s you. It’s been you for months.”

“I don’t know.”

“And you never will if you keep hiding in the corner with me at parties instead of talking to him.”

Michael glared at him.

“So we were almost done with rehearsal,” Christine was giggling. “Like seriously, five minutes left and-” She stopped suddenly, looking up. “Oh. Hi Michael!”

Jeremy twisted around.

“Hey guys.” Michael smiled. He looked slightly uncomfortable. “Jer, can I talk to you? If you’re not busy.”

“Oh uh…” Jeremy glanced at Christine.

“He’s not.” Christine waved him off. “Go. Talk.” She grinned.

“Okay. Sure.” Jeremy stood up and followed Michael outside.

They went into the front yard to avoid the loud yelling in the back. Jake’s parties were great for a lot of things, but private conversations were not one of them. It was cold and cloudy out. Michael squinted up at the sky.

“Looks like it’s gonna rain.”

“Mmm.” Jeremy agreed. He started to fidget when Michel kept looking at the clouds. “So uh, what did you want to talk about?”

“Oh. Right.” Michael nodded. “Uuuh… How’s Christine?”

Jeremy raised an eyebrow. “You brought _me_ all the way out here to ask how _Christine_ is?”

“Yeah well I was just- I meant more like how are you _and_ Christine- not that- I um…” Michael stopped and looked up suddenly. “It’s raining.”

“Yeah. So hurry up and get to the point.”

Michael continued to stare straight up. “I like you.” He said finally. He slowly lowered his head but didn’t meet Jeremy’s eyes. “Like as… more than friends. And Rich said you might also like me. So… that’s all I wanted to say.”

“Rich is pretty dumb a lot of the time.” Jeremy rushed to continue as Michael started to step back. “But not this- fuck!” He jumped as thunder roared across the sky. It started to really pour. “Let’s go in.”

“Wait!” Michael grabbed his arm. “Tell me what you were gonna say.”

“Michael we can talk inside!”

“Tell me now!”

Jeremy sighed. “I like you too.”

Michael frowned. “What?” He called over the rain.

“I like y- oh fuck it.” Jeremy grabbed Michael’s collar and kissed him. He pulled back and raised his eyebrows. “Understand?”

Michael nodded quickly, grinning. “You kissed me in the rain.”

“I did.”

“Oh!” Michael perked up suddenly. “We’re dating now right?”

“Yeah. I mean I think.”

“So I’m a boyfriend.” Michael started pulling his hoodie off.

Jeremy laughed. “You don’t have to-”

“Yes I do!” Michael’s voice was slightly muffled as he pulled the hoodie over his head and handed it to Jeremy.

“It’s wet! And we’re just gonna go back inside!”

“Put it on!”

Jeremy sighed and tugged the soaking wet hoodie over his soaking wet shirt. “Happy?”

And Michael smiled bigger than Jeremy could ever remember seeing him smile.

“Yes.” He stepped forward and kissed Jeremy again. Jeremy’s clothes were soaked. He was freezing and everything felt uncomfortable. But he stood outside in the rain and let Michael kiss him for as long as he wanted.

Once Michael finally permitted Jeremy to go inside, he laced their fingers together and swung their hands. They stepped inside and Michael immediately shook his hair out.

“I see you two had your romcom moment.” Christine appeared out of nowhere, bouncing on her toes.

“We did.” Michael grinned as Jeremy used his hoodie sleeves to wipe the rain off his face.

“You guys are idiots!” Rich yelled from the kitchen. “But congrats!”

“Thanks!” Michael yelled back. He turned to Jeremy. “I bet you look really cute in my hoodie but alas,” He pointed to his rain splattered glasses. “I cannot see shit.”

“You guys can throw your clothes in the dryer if you want.” Jake pointed down the hall.

“Oooh!” Michael pulled Jeremy toward the laundry room. “Put my hoodie in there so it’ll be all warm.”

“Do I still get to wear it?” Jeremy asked, pausing before he pulled it off.

“That entirely depends on how much you make out with me while it’s in the dryer.”

“Hmmm.” Jeremy tugged it off and handed it to Michael. “I think I can sway you.”

Michael leaned down and kissed him. “I think you can too.”


	13. Jeremy & Rich (platonic)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rich teases Jeremy about his crush on Christine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags: friendship banter, pining, Stagedorks, a hint of exp headphones

Rich drove terrifyingly fast. However, ever since Michael had decided he was suddenly into joining clubs, Rich was Jeremy’s new ride home. They’d actually started spending a lot of time together, the three of them. Rich was cool now. Or well, he’d always been cool, but he was nice now. He ate lunch with Jeremy and Michael and drove Jeremy home and he’d even started joining the weekly sleepovers. It was fun having another friend, especially now that Michael’s schedule was so busy.

“You seeing Michael later?” Rich asked, digging through his backpack.

“Uh, probably. Why?”

“Can you give him his notebook back? I borrowed it for notes.”

“Sure.” Jeremy took the notebook from him and put it in his own backpack.

“Hey Jeremy.” Christine waved as she walked past.

“Oh. Hey. How are- Hi.” Jeremy spun in a circle as he stumbled over both his words and his feet.

Rich snorted.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

Jeremy shoved him. “What!”

“Are you _ever_ gonna make a move on her?”

“I’ve… made moves.” Jeremy pouted.

“Right.”

“I have!”

“She gave you her number like two weeks ago and you _still_ haven’t texted her. You haven’t made any plans to hang out. Come on man, stop being such a little bitch. Just ask her out.”

“Shut up Rich.” Jeremy mumbled, hooking his thumbs through his backpack straps.

“Hey.” Rich punched Jeremy’s shoulder a little too hard. It was always a little too hard but Rich was never aware of his own strength. Or maybe he just wasn’t sure, after so many years of punching to hurt, how soft friend punches were supposed to be.

“Sup?” Jeremy fell into step with him as they headed for the parking lot. “Hungry?”

“Sure.” Rich scanned the hallways, his eyes lingering here and there on a few of the people on his (extensive) list of “the only hot people at our stupid ass school.”

One of those people was Michael who paused briefly to hassle Jeremy about joining robotics with him. Jeremy refused for the millionth time before Michael sighed loudly and told them he’d see them later. Jeremy waved as he disappeared down the hall. Rich’s eyes followed him for a moment before he turned back to Jeremy.

“So food?”

“Food.” Jeremy tugged on his backpack strap. “I’m kinda in the mood for-”

“Hi Jeremy!” Christine called from down the hall.

“Her?” Rich finished Jeremy’s interrupted sentence with a smirk.

“Shut it.” Jeremy elbowed him hard as Christine approached. “Hi Christine. What’s up?”

“Oh you know, everything!” She grinned and Jeremy couldn’t help grinning back.

“Hey,” Rich leaned on Jeremy’s shoulder. “Jeremy and I were gonna go get something to eat. Christine, you should totally join us.”

“Oh!” Jeremy flushed. “Yeah! Totally!”

“That’s so sweet!” Christine rocked back on her heels. “But I have rehearsal today.” She made an exaggerated pouty face. “Maybe another time!”

“Yeah sure.” Jeremy nodded.

“How ‘bout this weekend?” Rich suggested.

“Sure, let me check my schedule.” Christine pulled out a planner with approximately one million sticky notes marking the pages. As she flipped through they saw that it was meticulously color coded as well.

“Jesus.” Rich snorted. “That’s intense.”

“Yeah.” Christine blushed slightly. “I always get really excited about planners but then I forget about them like two weeks after I buy them. Anyway, I’m free on Sunday.”

“Me too.” Jeremy said, without even pretending to check if he had plans.

“Great,” Rich grinned. “Sunday it is. Oh, wait I have plans with the Mell-man on Sunday. Bummer. Oh well, you two go!”

“Oh we could resched-” Christine started but Rich cut her off.

“No need, I’ve had lunch before. You guys go without me.”

“Oh. Okay.” Christine looked to Jeremy and smiled a little shyly. “Just us then.”

“Yeah.”

“Cool well, I’m gonna be late.” She shoved her planner back into her backpack. “See you this weekend Jeremy!”

“Yeah.” Jeremy repeated, staring after her as she rushed down the hall.

“You’re welcome.” Rich said, grabbing Jeremy’s arm and steering him toward the parking lot.

“What? Why?”

“For setting up a date with Christine for you.”

“That’s not a date!” Jeremy protested, blushing profusely. “We’re just gonna get lunch. As friends.”

“Uh huh.” Rich nodded. “And you were ‘just’ drooling.”

“I was _not_ drooling!” Jeremy punched him.

Rich cackled as he pulled Jeremy down the hall.


	14. Michael/Jeremy/Christine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christine feels bad when she can't help Jeremy through a panic attack but Michael reassures her.  
> Requested by @hunterduggn on instagram

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags: fluff, hurt/comfort

“Jeremy.” Christine squeezed his hand. “Jeremy just look at me. It’s gonna be okay. You’re okay.”

Jeremy shook his head rapidly. “I’m not- I can’t breathe.”

“It’s okay.” Christine tried to remember what she’d learned about helping with panic attacks but she was drawing a blank. Everything felt so silly. “Um, can you, um oh! Name five things you see.”

Jeremy shook his head again. “That doesn’t work. I can’t do it. I…” He trailed off, still gasping for breath.

Christine let go of one of Jeremy’s hands to grab her phone. It was supposed to be her night with Jeremy but there was only one person who she knew could help with this.

Michael got there in record time. Christine figured he was probably speeding but she didn’t care. She was just glad he came. He walked in and instantly kneeled in front of where Jeremy was sitting on the floor.

“Jer, hey, it’s okay.” He rubbed Jeremy’s back. “Just breathe. Here.” He took Jeremy’s hand and pressed it to his chest. “With me okay?”

Jeremy was still shaking but he nodded and tried to breathe along with Michael.

“See?” Michael stroked his hair. “You’re okay, my love.”

Jeremy squeezed his eyes shut. “Still hurts. Like I’m gonne die.”

“You’re not gonna die.” Michael looked up at Christine who was watching them, feeling helpless. “Will you go get me a lemon? Cut it in half.”

Christine frowned but hurried to do as he asked. She wasn’t sure what the point was but she wanted to help. She returned quickly and handed the lemon to Michael who shoved it into Jeremy’s mouth.

Jeremy made a noise of surprise and spit the lemon out. “What the fuck!”

“Better?” Michael grinned.

“I- oh.” Jeremy relaxed. “Yeah. Thanks.” His breathing was still a little uneven. He turned and buried his face in Michael’s shoulder. Michael kissed the top of his head.

Christine watched them and felt terrible. All she ever wanted to do was be able to take care of Jeremy the way Michael could. She knew she should be grateful Jeremy had them both. They didn’t both have to be good at the same things. There were somethings she knew she was better than Michael at just like there were things Michael was better at. She hated when she got that nagging feeling, like it was a competition. It wasn’t. They both loved Jeremy and he loved them both right back. It didn’t matter if Michael was better and working through panic attacks. And really, it didn’t bug her that he was _better_. It bugged her that she couldn’t seem to help at all. And what if one day she was the only one there and-

Oh. She was drawn out of her thoughts by Jeremy tugging at her arm.

She let him lace their fingers together and pull her down to the floor beside him. Michael smiled at her over Jeremy’s head. Christine curled up against Jeremy, placing a kiss on his shoulder that made him hum.

It didn’t take long before Jeremy was asleep. Panic attacks tired him out so when he had the time to sleep afterward, he took it. Christine watched Michael stroke Jeremy’s hair. She didn’t mean to speak but she did.

“I wish I could help him.”

Michael looked up, surprised. “You do help him.”

“With this stuff.” Christine dropped her eyes. “I can never get him through it like you can.”

“Well, I have more experience. That’s all it is. You’ll get there. We’ll talk about it, I can help you.”

“I know.” She pulled her knees up to her chest. “It’s just that you guys have history, and I don’t. I don’t know. I feel like he doesn’t need me.”

Michael snorted at that.

Christine glared at him.

“I’m sorry.” He smiled. “That’s just ridiculous. Jeremy adores you. You know he does. And yes, I can get him through the panic attacks a little quicker but that doesn’t mean you don’t help.” He shifted so he could look at her fully. “He trusts you Christine. That’s the biggest thing he needs. He needs to be somewhere that he feels safe. And you give him that.”

“I guess.” Christine smiled. Michael really was good at easing anxieties.

“He loves you.”

“I love you both.” Jeremy mumbled, waking up just enough to pull Christine toward him and squeeze her tight. “Now be quiet so I can sleep.”

Christine laughed. “I love you too.”

“And I love you three.” Michael reached around him and ruffled Christine’s hair. “And you.”

She smiled at him. “And you.”


	15. Christine/Brooke 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christine and Brooke go on their first date to a bookstore.  
> Requested by @the_believer_mage on instagram

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags: fluff, first date, bookstore date

“You’re sure you’re okay with this?” Christine asked for the third time as they parked in front of the bookstore. It was three stories, with a little café, and Christine was practically vibrating with excitement.

“Of course.” So maybe Brooke wasn’t a huge reader herself but she enjoyed a good book here and there. Besides, Christine looked so pretty when she was smiling like that. “I’ll pick the next date.”

Christine turned to her as they started walking across the parking lot. “You’re already committing to a second date?”

Brooke smiled. “Are you not?”

“I didn’t say that.” Christine grinned and took Brooke’s hand.

Brooke didn’t usually get the whole hype about books stores but this one was something else. Three stories up, there was a huge glass ceiling that created patterns of light across the floor. The second and third floor were only boarders around the wall, leaving the center open for the skylight. The walls were a clean cream color and the shelves were deep oaky brown, lined with a rainbow array of books. The café was nestled into the corner and Brooke could smell the coffee and pastries the second they walked through the door.

“Where do we even start?” Brooke asked, dragging her eyes to Christine who was beaming.

“Fiction.” Christine said, decisively. She tugged Brooke toward the first fiction shelf.

At first it was pretty quiet. Brooke scanned the spines, occasionally pulling a book off the shelf if a title caught her eye. Christine seemed to be doing the same thing. Every now and then she’d turn to show Brooke a funny title or some pretty cover art.

“Oh!” She grabbed a book. “I’ve been looking for this one!” She tucked the book under her arm and continued browsing.

“Do you have like, a list of books you want to buy?”

“Sorta.” Christine pulled out her phone and opened the notes app. She showed Brooke the screen.

“Oh my god.” Brooke laughed. “There’s like two hundred books on here.”

“I know.” Christine sighed. “And I can only afford like six.” She shook her head.

Brooke smiled and handed her phone back. They continued browsing for a while. By the time they made it through the first floor, Christine was holding three books and had talked herself out of two other ones.

“Wanna get something to drink before we go upstairs?” Christine asked, swinging their joined hands.

“Sure.” Brooke led the way to the café. They ordered their drinks (tea for Christine and hot chocolate for Brooke) and sat down at a table.

“So, tell me about the books you have.” Brooke nodded at the pile.

“Okay!” Christine perked up. “So this one,” She held up a book with a dark, gritty looking cover. “It’s like a post-apocalyptic romance. It’s about these two girls and they’re like trying to survive but they’re also gay.”

“Oooh.” Brooke leaned forward. “That’s a plot I can get behind.”

“Right!” She picked up the next book. “This one is a murder mystery. And,” She held up the last one. “This one is a time travel one about a girl and her cat.”

“I need to start taking book recommendations from you.” Brooke laughed, taking a sip of her hot chocolate. It was perfectly warm and she felt it all the way to her toes.

“You can read these ones when I’m done.” Christine said happily, blowing the steam away from her tea.

“Deal.”

After they finished their drinks, as well as a giggly conversation about the worst books they’d ever read, they took the stairs to the second floor. This floor seemed to be dedicated to non-fiction books. They browsed the biographies and skimmed through the history section and then left the second floor behind.

The third floor was dedicated to all the non-book books. There were journals, calendars, coloring books, sketchbooks, sticker books, and a wide assortment of bookmarks, stationary, and art supplies.

Christine beelined for the journal section. She handed Brooke her stack of books so she could run her fingers over the leather covers.

“I’ve always wanted to buy one of these. Oh like this.” She picked up a thick journal. The leather cover had a beautiful carving of a tree and a gold clasp. “But they’re so expensive. I could never justify it.” She sighed as she set the book back on the shelf. She wandered down the aisle. Brooke took the journal she’d been holding and stuck it under the stack of books in her arms.

“Look at these pens!” Christine yelled from behind a shelf.

Brooke wandered over to her as Christine thrust the pens in her face.

“They have little cats on top!”

“Cute.” Brooke adjusted her books to take them.

“Oh I can take those back.” Christine offered.

“No that’s okay.” Brooke set the pens down. “You need your hands free more than I do.”

“Oh. Thanks.” Christine smiled at her.

They spent a few more minutes looking at silly calendars and expensive planners. Brooke picked up a pack of cat shaped fridge magnets for herself.

Then they descended the two flights of stairs and made their way to the registers.

Brooke slipped the journal and her magnets into one hand an held them behind her back. She handed Christine her books and waited until she walked up to one of the cashiers. Brooke went up to the other.

They checked out and Christine took Brooke’s hand again as they walked to the car.

“This was so fun.” Christine hummed.

“Agreed.” Brooke nodded. “I’m gonna let you plan all our dates.”

“No!” Christine cried as they put their bags in the backseat and got into the car. “Next time we have to do something _you_ like!”

“Mmmm.” Brooke frowned in thought as she put her seatbelt on. “I’ve always wanted to go to a drive in.”

“Oooh fun! I’ll look up some places.”

They mostly drove in silence. Christine hummed softly to the songs playing from her phone and every now and then one of them would point out something that caught their eye on the street. Finally, they pulled up to the curb outside Brooke’s house.

“Well,” Christine tilted her head. “I had a really great time. I’d consider this a successful date.”

Brooke laugh. “So would I. And,” She reached into the back to grab her bag from the bookstore. “I got you a gift.”

“You did?” Christine’s eyes lit up. “What is it?”

“Tada!” Brooke pulled the journal out with a flourish.

“Brooke!” Christine stared at her. “Oh my god. It was so expensive.”

“It really wasn’t.” Brooke waved her off. “Take it.”

Christine reluctantly took the journal, running her fingers across the cover. “Thank you.”

She leaned across the center console and kissed Brooke.

Brooke blinked in surprise. “Oh.” She felt her cheeks flush. 

Christine smiled. “Text you tonight?”

Brooke nodded as she opened the door. “Bye Christine.”


	16. Evan/Jared 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jared tries to get creative in his attempt to ask Evan out. It does not go smoothly.  
> Requested by @blossom__1998 on instagram

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags: getting together, jared hates crafting, friends to lovers, fluff

“No, no, no, no, no!” Jared lunged forward too late and watched in horror as the bottle of glitter fell off the table and exploded onto the carpet. “That’s never gonna come out.” He stared at the pile of glitter on his floor. “This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.”

“Yes.” Zoe agreed, not looking up from her phone. “But he’ll like it.”

“He’s gonna think it’s stupid. Because it is.” Jared shoved the poster board away from him.

“Are you kidding me dude?” Zoe finally looked at him. “Evan is obsessed with romance movie bullshit like this.”

“Maybe from someone else.”

“Shut up.” Zoe got up and sat across the table from him. “He likes you and he likes romance and he desperately wants a date to this stupid fucking dance.”

Jared groaned. “It looks like shit.”

Zoe titled her head to read the board. “Yeah, it kinda does.” She flung the half-finished poster onto the floor and pulled a fresh one out. “Let’s start over.”

“You bought two?”

Zoe reached behind her. “I bought three.”

“I’m not sure if I should be offended or grateful.”

“Offended.” Zoe said, organizing Jared’s messy pile of art supplies. “I didn’t have any faith in your crafting abilities.”

Jared brushed glitter off his shirt. “I guess that’s fair.”

“So, what are you gonna write?”

“I don’t know.” Jared picked up a marker. “Go to homecoming with me loser.”

“I’m not sure that’s the best choice.”

“Go to homecoming with me… idiot?”

Zoe raised an eyebrow.

“Moron?” Jared tired.

“How bout you try hmm… I don’t know… _not_ insulting him?”

“Lame but fine.” Jared smoothed out the poster. “Go to homecoming with me… Evan.”

“Jesus you’re so annoying.” Zoe sighed. “ _Ask_ him. It’s not supposed to be a demand.”

“Fiiiiine.” Jared whined. “Will you go to homecoming with me?”

“That’s better.” Zoe leaned on her elbows, watching as Jared started drawing huge block letters with a marker. “That’s way too big.” She shook her head. “You’re not gonna be able to fit all the words.”

“Shut it.” Jared muttered, focusing intently. “It’ll be fine.”

“It’s too big.”

“It’s gonna- shit.” Jared leaned back. He’d managed to fit ‘will you go to homeco’ before he ran out of space.

“Guess you should be grateful too.” Zoe said, whipping out the third poster. “Why don’t you start in _pencil_ this time genius.” She said, yanking the marker out of Jared’s hand.

“Ug.” Jared grabbed a pencil.

“Maybe just write homecoming with a question mark.” She suggested. “Simple and to the point.”

“Fine.” Jared started lightly sketching the letters. “Posters are so stupid. I hate this. I hate dancing. I hate Evan. Oh it fits.” He leaned back. “That actually looks good.”

“Wow. Shocker.” Zoe snorted. “Markers?”

“Should I make it rainbow since this is a gay poster?” Jared wrinkled his nose before Zoe could respond. “Never mind I hated it as soon as I said it.”

“Yeah.” Zoe agreed. “Tacky. But you could do his favorite color.”

“Still gross but fine.” Jared grabbed a green marker.

“Wow.” Zoe laughed. “I didn’t think you would instantly know it.”

Jared flushed and did not look at her. “Why are you here?”

“Because you suck at being artistic.” Zoe said, offering no help at all.

“So you’re just gonna sit there and watch me fill all of these letters in by myself.”

“Yup.”

After what felt like hours but was probably only about fifteen minutes, Jared finished coloring in his letters.

“Okay, now what?” Jared looked to Zoe. “I’m banning glitter. How do I make it look less lame?”

“What do you think?”

“I don’t know. Help me!” Jared threw a marker at her.

“Oh my god dude.” Zoe snorted. “You’re way overthinking this.”

“I think you’re underthinking it.” Jared grumbled. “What if I put like… a tree on it? Because he works at the park or whatever. No that’s stupid.”

“No that’s good!” Zoe nodded. “You’re thinking about what he likes. It’s good.”

“Ug.” Jared started drawing a tree.

“You’re not a bad artist.” Zoe commented, looking up from the corner where she was drawing hearts with a variety of green gel pens.

“Thanks. I think.”

It took way longer than Jared anticipated but he finally had a finished poster. This was supposed to be a quick, half hour activity. Instead, it took three hours, ruined Jared’s carpet, and gave Zoe ample time to make fun of him along the way.

But in the end, he had a stupid poster to ask his stupid best friend to go to a stupid dance with him. Zoe advised him to say the word stupid less when he actually asked Evan. Jared said he would consider it.

“Hey.” Jared tugged at Evan’s arm.

“Huh?”

“Come with me.”

“Why?” Evan eyed him nervously.

“Just,” Jared groaned. “Come on. It’s important.”

“But, why?”

“Because I said so!” Jared grabbed his arm and dragged him down the hall. He paused outside the door, the nerves hit him suddenly.

Jared and Evan had been semi flirting for months now. At least, Jared thought it was flirting. He knew _he_ was definitely flirting. The problem was Evan was terrible at reading social situations and even more terrible at responding to them. For all Jared knew, Evan was just trying to joke around with his friend. Still, Jared hoped that Evan couldn’t be that dense. It had been months of joking and sleepovers and each of them taking turns standing a little too close. Jared had finally snapped and asked Zoe to help him officially ask Evan out.

“Are we just gonna stare at this door?” Evan said, bringing Jared out of his thoughts.

“No. We’re gonna walk through it.” Jared still did not open the door. On the other side was Zoe with the sign and on this side Jared was seriously second guessing his plan.

“Okay.” Evan waited patiently. “Now or…?”

“Yep.” Jared took another moment to breathe before shoving the door open and gesturing to the sign.

Evan raised his eyebrows in shock. Nope. Jared’s stomach lurched as he realized Evan’s face was _not_ shock. He’d been around Evan long enough to recognize that look on site and it was not good. That was his “oh shit this is a bad situation and I don’t know what to do about it” face. Jared was about to backpedal _very_ drastically (can you ask someone to homecoming as a prank?) but Evan spoke first.

“You’re… asking me to homecoming?” He asked, staring at Zoe.

“Oh my god I _told_ you it would be confusing.” Zoe huffed. She walked over and shoved the poster into Jared’s hands. “No. _He’s_ asking you to homecoming.”

Jared held up the poster halfheartedly, not feeling entirely optimistic about this anymore.

“Oh.” That expression melted off of Evan’s face and he actually smiled. “Really?”

“Yeah.” Jared wiggled the poster. “That’s what the poster says.”

“Well, yes then.”

“Cool.” Jared handed the sign to Evan. “This is yours.”

Evan laughed. “Uh, thanks. Nice tree.”

“You guys are so lame.” Zoe rolled her eyes and walked back inside.

“She’s been very judgey this whole time.” Jared said.

Evan smiled. “Yeah she’s like that sometimes.”

“Is that why you were absolutely horrified when you thought she was the one asking you?”

“What?” Evan flushed. “No! I wasn’t _horrified_.”

“I saw your face dude. You looked _so_ scared.”

“I wasn’t!” Evan insisted. “I just… wanted you to ask me so… I was disappointed.”

“Ha. Nerd.” Jared kicked his shoe.

“Whatever. You made a poster. You’re a nerd.”

“Zoe helped. She’s the real nerd.”

“Agreed.” Evan laughed. He tapped his foot nervously. “Um, Jared. You meant this like…”

“Like?”

“Like not as friends. Right?”

“Yes. Or, no?” Jared frowned. “Not as friends. As like…” He waved his hand. “In a gay way.”

“Okay.” Evan let out a breath. “Good.”

“So your yes was in a gay way also?”

“Yes.” Evan laughed. He bumped Jared with the poster. “This was very sweet. Thank you.”

“Yeah well,” Jared avoided his eyes and grabbed his hand. “I’m very sweet so get used to it.”

“Is that a… romantic threat?” Evan asked as he was dragged back into the hallway.

“Yes. Get used to that too.”


	17. Evan/Jared 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Evan decides he's not going to prom, Jared throws him a mini prom to ensure he doesn't miss out. But it's totally a platonic gesture... definitely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags: getting together, friends to lovers, first kiss, prom kinda

“Sorry _what_ did you just say to me?” Jared stared at him.

Evan shrugged. “I said I’m not going to prom.”

“But… it’s prom.” Jared raised his eyebrows. “ _Senior_ prom.”

“Yeah.” Evan picked at his shoes. They were sitting on the floor in the hallway, waiting for Zoe to finish making up a test so she could drive them home. Jared thought it was embarrassing that she was the only one of them with a car but that didn’t change the fact that he still didn’t have one.

“But it’s _prom_.” Jared repeated.

“Yes.” Evan looked over. “I’m aware.” He sighed when Jared waved his arms. “You remember what happened at junior prom.”

“Oh come on!” Jared waved him off. “It was one teeny tiny little panic attack! You were good in ten minutes. We didn’t even have to leave.”

“Yeah but I was miserable all night.”

Jared frowned. “You were?”

“Yeah.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know.” Evan shrugged. “You were having fun.”

“Well yeah but…”

“Hey guys!” The door across the hall swung open and Zoe came out, swinging her backpack over her shoulder.

“Zoe.” Jared stood up. “Did you know that Evan wasn’t going to prom?”

“Huh? Oh yeah.” Zoe reached out to pull Evan to his feet. “He told me yesterday.”

“What?” Jared turned to glare at Evan. “Betrayal. Disrespect.”

“Whatever.” Evan followed Zoe down the hall.

“Here.” Jared shoved something into Evan’s hands.

“What is this?” Evan raised his eyebrows.

“It’s your prom ticket.”

“What?” Evan shook his head, eyes wide. “Jared, no. I told you I didn’t- did you actually _buy-_ ”

“Jesus Christ Evan.” Jared grabbed his wrists and raised his hands to eye level. “Read it.”

Evan looked at the paper in his hands. “Admit one. Jared… Kleinman Exclusive Prom…” He looked up and squinted at Jared. “What is this?”

“It’s the much cooler and much more exclusive prom that you will be attending. No refunds.”

“I didn’t pay you.”

“Yet.”

“Wait what?”

“Anyway,” Jared went on. “This is nonnegotiable.”

“So… you and I are gonna hang out at your house instead of going to prom? And you needed to print out this paper for that?”

“No.” Jared rolled his eyes. “Why must you ruin everything? It is prom. You will wear a suit and there will be music and ungodly amounts of punch which I may or may not spike.”

“So… we’re gonna hang out at your house in suits?”

“ _No_.” Jared huffed. “It will be us and Connor and Zoe. And also Alana heard us talking about it and she wanted to come so she’ll be there I guess.”

“Oh.” Evan stared at the paper in his hands. “Well… um, thank you.”

Jared just shrugged. “Come on. We’re gonna be late.”

“Jared’s mom really went all out for this huh?” Zoe laughed, nudging Evan. They were standing in Jared’s living room which had been strewn with streamers, balloons, and even a little photo area. The kitchen table was filled with snacks and drinks and confetti. Mrs. Kleinman had been planning for this since Jared’s thirteenth birthday when he decided he was too cool for birthday parties.

“She likes decorating.” Evan watched Zoe as she swayed to the music. “You look great.”

“Why thank you.” She curtsied. “You don’t look too bad yourself Hansen.” She looked over to the kitchen where Connor was ignoring them and eating chips. “I hope he leaves some for us.”

Evan was about to answer when the doorbell rang. Evan and Zoe looked at each other. Jared still hadn’t come down.

“I guess…” Evan raised his eyebrows and shrugged. “I’ll get it?”

He crossed the room and walked into the entryway. He pulled the door open to reveal Alana Beck, grinning in a dark blue, floor length dress.

“Happy private prom!” She yelled.

“Hi.” Evan laughed, waving her in. “We’re just right through there.”

He followed her into the living room and watched as she and Zoe gushed over each other’s dresses.

“Is this everyone? Hi Connor!” Alana waved. Then she frowned. “Where’s Jared?”

“He’s upstairs.” Zoe rolled her eyes. “He wanted to make a dramatic entrance.” She walked over to the stairs and yelled up them. “Jared! We’re all here! Come down or we’re coming up!”

“You will not!” Jared’s voice came back. “I’m coming!”

A minute later he appeared at the top of the stairs. He was wearing a red suit with a black shirt, as he’d been planning to all year. Evan hated to admit it (due to his firm belief that suits should only exist in black, gray, or white) but it looked really good.

Jared smirked as he descended the stairs. “Sorry to disappoint ladies, but I don’t play for your team.”

“A tragedy.” Zoe snorted.

Evan would’ve made a snarky comment too if his mouth hadn’t suddenly gone very dry.

“Speechless?” Jared was suddenly in front of him. Evan didn’t remember that happening. He was standing on the first step making him taller than Evan which Evan was not a fan of.

“I’m… no. You look nice.” Evan forced out. “I like your hair.”

“That is the one thing I didn’t change you moron.”

“No that’s what I mean.” Evan felt his face flush. “I just mean- I like that you left it. Whatever.”

Jared snorted. “I see you styled the hell out of yours.” He reached out and ruffled Evan’s hair.

Evan didn’t register it in time to duck but Zoe slapped his hand away.

“Quit it.” She stepped in front of Evan and started fixing his hair. “I spent a long time on his hair.”

“And it still looks bad.” Jared teased. “Alana.” Jared nodded. “You look great, like a mermaid.”

“Thank you! You look wonderful!”

“Connor.” Jared brushed past them into the kitchen. “Thanks for dressing up.”

“No problem.” Connor’s shirt was untucked and the top three buttons were unbuttoned. He’d paired the shirt with a pair of his least ripped black jeans. He said it was as close as he was willing to get to “formal.”

The music choice wasn’t exactly what Evan expected the school prom to be playing. He was pretty sure Jared found every song with an explicit version and put them on a playlist. It was fun though. They turned the lights off and Jared dug out his disco light ball from middle school. The music was loud and Evan had honestly never had so much fun dancing.

He was in the kitchen, gulping water when Zoe cornered him.

“Hey there.”

“Hi.” Evan set his cup down. “Having fun?”

“Very much so.” She smiled sort of mischievously. “Are you?”

“Yeah. Surprisingly.”

“Pretty nice of Jared to do this for you.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Evan eyed her. “What’s with your tone?”

Zoe raised her eyebrows. “Seriously? You don’t get it?”

“Get what?”

“Jared!” She waved at Jared who was trying to teach Alana how to shuffle. Neither of them were succeeding.

“What about him?”

“Evan.” Zoe grabbed his shoulders. “Jared gave up his senior prom. To throw this small lame prom. For you. For no reason other than the fact that you didn’t want to go to prom. You didn’t ask him to do this. He did it for you.”

“Yes.” Evan fidgeted. “He’s a friend.”

“A friend?”

“A _good_ friend.”

“Dude.” Zoe punched his shoulder. “That boy is in love with you.”

“What? No. He’s- no. That’s not- no.”

Zoe snorted. “Come on man. Even you aren’t this dense.” She looked over to Jared who was now yelling that they were being buzzkills. “He went to all this trouble, just so you could have a prom. Just so _he_ could have a prom _with_ you.”

“But I…”

“Evan!” Jared yelled. “Get your ass in here! I did this for you!”

Zoe made a face like Jared had just proved her point and then she patted Evan’s shoulder and walked back into the living room.

“Hey.” Evan tapped Jared’s shoulder.

He spun around and frowned. “What?”

“Can I talk to you?” Evan called over the music.

Jared nodded. He followed Evan into the doorway, far enough from the music that they didn’t have to yell.

“Um, I just wanted to say thanks.” He waved to the living room. “For doing all this.”

“Yeah whatever.” Jared shrugged. “It’s no big deal. My mom did most of the work.”

“Yeah I guess but…” Evan took a breath. “It is a big deal. You skipped your senior prom and you put all this together and I just want you to know that it means a lot to me.”

“Yeah whatever.” Jared said again, but this time he wouldn’t meet Evan’s eyes.

Eva glanced behind Jared to where Zoe was mouthing something at him. He squinted, trying to understand.

She pointed rapidly at Evan, then at Jared, and then mimed a sloppy version of a slow dance. She mouthed again, _ask him to dance_ , and then held up Jared’s phone. She tapped something and the first slow song of the night came on.

Evan flushed. “Um, do you maybe want to dance?”

“What? Like with you?” Jared stared at him.

“Um… no? No. I just meant…” Evan looked to Zoe again. She was silently yelling something. “Yes. With me.”

Jared narrowed his eyes for a second, suspiciously. “Okay.”

Evan blinked, startled as Jared grabbed his hand and pulled him back into the room. “Oh. Okay. Yeah.”

Jared hesitated for a second, hands hovering around Evan’s waist.

“You can…” Evan made a vague gesture. “I don’t mind.”

Jared nodded and, somewhat awkwardly, placed his hands on Evan’s hips. Evan put his own hands on Jared’s shoulders, infinitely grateful he wasn’t in Jared’s position.

Zoe and Alana were dancing a few feet away. Connor had mysteriously vanished and the back door was open.

“I’m sorry you missed senior prom.” Evan said softly.

Jared shrugged. “Wasn’t that excited for it. I was thinking about asking someone but…” He shrugged again.

“What?” Evan stumbled over his feet. “Why didn’t you ask them?”

“They weren’t gonna go to prom anyway. It’s fine.”

“Well, you could’ve invited them here then.”

“I did.”

“But…”

“Evan.” Jared closed his eyes and sighed.

“You should’ve danced with them.”

“Evan.” Jared repeated. “I did. I am.”

“Oh. But-”

“Come on dude.” Jared sighed. “You know what I’m saying.”

“Can you just say it anyway?”

Jared gave him an annoyed look. “It’s you.”

Evan nodded. He didn’t know what to do now. He’d never been in this situation, slow dancing with his best friend who had just confessed to having a crush on him. He didn’t know the procedure.

Jared didn’t seem bothered by his silence. He looked over Evan’s shoulder with a sort of defeated acceptance.

Evan cleared his throat. “It’s you too.” He flushed, realizing that didn’t make sense. “For me.” He added. “It’s you for me.”

Jared raised an eyebrow like he was about to make some snarky comment.

“Can you just shut up and not ruin this moment?” Evan said before he could start.

Jared laughed. “ _You_ just ruined it!”

“No I didn’t!”

“You did too!”

“I was just-”

“Kiss me.”

The rest of Evan’s sentence died in his throat. “Um, okay.”

Jared waited. “Or don’t. That’s cool too.”

“Sorry.” Evan flushed. “I just- Zoe and Alana are right there.”

“So?”

“So…” Evan didn’t have a good answer to that.

“If you don’t want to you can just tell me.”

“I do. I just- can you just do it?”

“You’re such a baby Evan.” Jared said and then he was tugging on Evan’s tie and kissing him.

“Did you just insult me and then kiss me?” Evan said when Jared couldn’t stand on his toes anymore and finally pulled away.

“Yes.” Jared slid his arms around Evan’s neck. “And I’ll do it again.”


	18. Evan/Jared 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jared tries to propose and gets interrupted. Four times.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags: established relationship, proposal, Jared is a good boyfriend with a short temper, fluff

Evan was in a swimming pool full of pudding. He wasn’t sure how he got there but it didn’t seem strange for some reason. He was there with a large flamingo floatie that kept speaking to him. Only, as soon as it stopped talking, Evan couldn’t remember anything it said. That is, until it said his name.

“Evan.”

“Yes, flamingo?”

“Evan.”

“What?”

“Evan!”

“What do you want!”

The flamingo shoved Evan.

Evan blinked.

“Jesus you sleep like you’re dead.” Said someone who was not a flamingo. It was Evan’s boyfriend instead. Evan’s boyfriend who should know, after two years of living together, that Evan was a heavy sleeper.

“You were,” Evan blinked blearily. “A flamingo.”

Jared snorted. “I was a flamingo?”

“In my dream.”

“Right.” Jared ruffled his hair. “Get up.”

“Why?” Evan mumbled. “It’s Saturday. Let me sleep.”

“No. We have plans.”

“No we don’t.”

“Yes we do.” Jared patted his back. “Come on. Up. Up.”

“Fine.” Evan dragged himself out of bed and into the bathroom.

Jared took this time to pace the room and breath. He stuck his hand into his pocket to feel the velvet box that he knew was there because he checked for it every five seconds. He’d planned a perfect day with Evan. There were three stops, all of them places that made Evan ridiculously happy for reasons Jared would never understand. But it didn’t matter if Jared understood, the point was that he knew what Evan liked and he was going to check all of his boxes and then finish it off with a ring. He pretended that he wasn’t doing all this because he thought that a happy boyfriend was more likely to say yes. Or more accurately, that an average mood boyfriend might say no. He hadn’t exactly planned out _when_ he was going to ask. He had three locations that all had potential to be romantic as hell. Jared figured that when the moment was right, he’d know.

“What kind of activities do I need to be dressed for?” Evan asked, walking out of the bathroom and stretching.

Jared ignored Evan’s question in favor of staring at his arms.

“Hey.” Evan shoved him. “Are you listening?”

“No.” Jared admitted. He grabbed Evan’s waist and kissed him. “You’re pretty.”

“Ew.” Evan shoved him away, his face bright red. “Don’t be mushy.”

“You love when I’m mushy!” Jared protested. “Wear something comfortable. We’re not doing like physical labor but just casual wear. I don’t know man.”

“You’re no help.” Evan huffed, going to their closet.

“Hey love of my life.” Jared called.

“Hmmm?”

“How long have we been dating?”

“Uhh.” Evan frowned as he pulled his shirt on. “Two years and what… eight months?”

“That’s what I thought.” Jared nodded.

“Why?”

“Cause, I wanna break up like, right on the three year anniversary.” Jared said.

Evan rolled his eyes. Those jokes would have upset him when they first started dating, but he’d seen enough of Jared’s soft side after this long to know Jared was absolutely as in love as he was.

“Well now that I know your plan I’m just gonna dump you first.” Evan said, shrugging.

“That’s cruel Evan. Really I’m hurt.”

Evan laughed. “I’m ready. Where are we going?”

“To the car.”

The first stop was the aquarium. Evan was a nerd about the aquarium. A year ago, Jared had gotten Evan an annual pass for his birthday. But today, Jared paid for both of their tickets.

“What’s the occasion?” Evan asked, taking his hand as they stepped inside.

“Uh, the occasion is I love you.” Jared huffed, tugging Evan toward the sharks which was the only place Jared liked about the aquarium.

“You never want to come here with me.”

“I literally always go with you.”

“Yeah but you never _want_ to.” Evan said.

Jared knew he’d be suspicious so he’d formulated a plan to throw Evan off. “Okay fine.” He sighed. “The truth is…” He paused for dramatic effect. “You’ve been really busy at work lately and I feel like you’re always stressed and when we do have time together, we do stuff I wanna do and I just feel bad. I wanted to do something you wanted to do.”

“Oh.” Evan looked shocked and also on the verge of tears. Just as Jared had planned. He congratulated himself on knowing his boyfriend so well.

“Yeah.” Jared hung his head, ready for the final move. The one that would stop Evan from questioning anything all day. “This was probably dumb.”

“No!” Evan said immediately. “I love it. I love you.” He kissed Jared. “Thank you.”

“I love you and you’re welcome.” Jared squeezed his hand. “Now let’s go.”

Jared zoned out for most of the walk. He’d seen the exhibits here a thousand times (Evan had really gotten Jared’s money’s worth out of that annual pass) and he didn’t understand why it always seemed like it was the first time for Evan. But it was very endearing.

They walked into Evan’s favorite place in the entire aquarium. It was the hallway that ran through the largest fish tank Jared had ever seen. The glass walls allowed them to see giant fish on all sides and floating by on top of them as well. Evan would spend hours in that tunnel if Jared would let him. Today, Jared considered letting him.

The light reflected through the water and danced across Evan’s face. Evan stared into the tanks, moving slowly and tugging Jared with him by their joined hands. He looked so happy.

Jared cleared his throat. “Hey, Evan.”

“Yeah?”

“Evan.” Jared waited until Evan looked at him. “Hi.”

“Hi.”

Jared’s hand was in his pocket. “I love you. And I-”

Jared stopped as a screaming child raced into the tunnel, shoving Evan aside. Evan stumbled and Jared caught his arm to steady him. The kid was now pounding on the glass while his tired looking mother walked toward him carrying a crying baby. Moment officially ruined.

Evan laughed and turned back to Jared. “You were saying something?”

Jared took his hand out of his pocket. “Just that I love you.”

Evan smiled and kissed his cheek.

The next place they went was Evan’s favorite restaurant. It was a pretty nice steakhouse and Jared liked it too. However, it was nearly an hour drive away so they never went. Evan was clearly excited to be there. He was studying the menu thoroughly and kept asking Jared to choose between two items he couldn’t decide between.

Jared wasn’t much help. He was running his finger over the box in his pocket. This restaurant had a lot of good memories for them. And while it wasn’t exactly a five star place, it was one of the fanciest places they’d ever been. Jared wished he’d called ahead and done something cheesy like hidden the ring in Evan’s cake or something. But kneeling would work too.

“Evan-”

This time he was interrupted by gasps from beside them. They turned to see the man at the table next to them getting down on one knee. His girlfriend was crying and fanning her eyes.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Jared grumbled.

“Yes!” The girl shrieked. The man stood up and they hugged and kissed and Jared scowled at them. That was supposed to be _him_ and _his_ boyfriend. And now there was no way he could propose here, that would just be cheap. He leaned back in his chair.

“Decide what you’re getting yet?”

Evan nodded. He was looking at Jared with a weird expression. “Are you okay?”

“What? Yeah.”

“Okay. If you’re tired or whatever we can go home.”

“No.” Jared insisted, leaning forward. “I’m having fun. I’m just hungry.”

“Okay.” Evan relaxed.

Dinner was nice once Jared got over his annoyance and started planning his final attempt. The last location was a park. It wasn’t a national park. It wasn’t even a very nice park as far as parks go. But it was where Jared had taken Evan on their first ever date. So despite the trash littering the ground, the broken playground equipment, and the dying grass, Evan smiled as they walked through.

“I missed this place.”

Jared snorted. “It’s shit.”

“Yeah. But you kissed me here for the first time.”

“I did.” Jared spread out the blanket and they dropped down onto it.

“Thank you for today.” Evan said, leaning against him. “I _have_ been really stressed lately and I mean, any time that I spend with you makes me feel better but this was just… really great.”

“Yeah well, I’m a wonderful boyfriend so you shouldn’t be surprised.”

Evan laughed. “You’re right.”

“So, while we’re here, at the place of our first date…” Jared said, reaching for his pocket again.

“Evan!”

They both looked up. One of Evan’s coworkers was walking through the park with his dog.

“Hey man.”

“Hey.” Evan sat up as the dog ran up to him. “How are you?”

“Good man. You?”

“Good.” Evan gestured to Jared. “This is my boyfriend.”

“Hi, I’m Ryan.” He held his hand out to Jared.

Jared shook it. “Jared.”

“Well, it was good to run into you.” Ryan waved. “I’ll see you at work.”

“Bye.” Evan smiled as he watched him go.

Jared huffed and tried again.

“Anyway, so I wanted to-”

“Whoa!” Evan looked over his shoulder as several firetrucks went screaming past. “That’s a lot of firetrucks. What do you think is on fire?”

“Who knows.” Jared clenched his jaw. “Listen, Evan-”

Jared’s phone rang.

“Jesus Christ just fucking marry me!” He yelled.

Evan stared at him. “What?”

“Fuck.” Jared buried his face in his hands. “I’m sorry. I fucked it up.”

“No. No. No.” Evan grabbed his shoulders. “Please continue.”

Jared sighed and lifted his head. Evan was looking at him with wide eyes. Jared reached into his pocket and pulled out the box.

“I’ve been trying to ask you all day.” He mumbled.

“Ask me now. Please.”

Jared smiled. “Okay.” He opened the box and took Evan’s hand in his. “I love you a stupid amount. And I can’t think of anything I’d want to do for the rest of my life except be with you. You make me happy and I’m trying my best to make you happy. Clearly I’m only half succeeding.” He admitted. “But I want to keep trying forever. So, will you marry me Evan?”

Evan was already hugging him before he finished his speech. “Yes. Obviously. I love you.”

Jared squeezed him. “I love you too.”

Evan sat back and held out his hand. Jared slid the ring on his finger.

“Cool.” He looked up at Evan who was only slightly crying. “You legally can’t escape me now.”

Evan laughed through his tears. “Shut up.”

He leaned forward and kissed Jared.

“You’re not allowed to tell me to shut up anymore, we’re _engaged_.”

“Shut _up_ , Jared.”


End file.
